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THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION. 



CHICAGO: 

ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 

EMBRACING A DETAILED NARRATIVE OF THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION IN 
THE NORTH, SOUTH, AND WEST DIVISIONS: 

ORIGIN, PROGRESS AND RESULTS OF THE FIRE. 

PROMINENT BUILDINGS BURNED, CHARACTER OF BUILDINGS, LOSSE3 AND 

INSURANCE, GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF THE FLAMES, SCENES AND 

INCIDENTS, LOSS OF LIFE, THE FLIGHT OF THE PEOPLE. 

ALSO, 

A CONDENSED HISTORY OF CHICAGO, ITS POPULATION, GROWTH AND 
GREAT PUBLIC WORKS. 

AND 

A STATEMENT OF ALL THE GREAT FIRES OF THE Wo'liLD. 



BY JAMES W. SHEAHAN AND GEORGE P. UPTON, 

ASSOCIATE EDITORS OF THE CHICAGO DAILY TRIBUNE. 



WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS. 



UNION PUBLISHING CO. : 

165 TWENTY-SECOND STREET, CHICAGO, ILLS. 

26 S. SEVENTH ST., PHILADELPHIA, PA. 

1871. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by 

E. S. DeGOLYER, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 






PREFACE 



This volume is devoted to a connected account of 
the great Chicago conflagration, with an incidental 
narrative of the destruction caused by the terrible 
forest fires in Wisconsin and Michigan, and a neces- 
sarily brief statement of the great fires of the world, 
which may serve for purposes of comparison. It is 
the account of witnesses of, and actors in the terrible 
scenes that closed with the destruction of a great 
city. No person saw the whole, or even any con- 
siderable part of the fire field. It was too mighty and 
vast. We have sought to comprehend in our ac- 
count all that is vital to an intelligent conception of 
the origin and progress of the fire, and the condition 
of the city, both before and afterwards ; and in so 
doing to make the work valuable as a book of refer- 
ence. With this end in view, it is compiled as a 
condensed statement of the commercial and industrial 
resources of the city, its private enterprises and great 

(3) 



4 PREFACE. 

public improvements, and the record of its marvellous 
growth. The work opens with the very beginning of 
the fire and follows it, street by street, along its terri- 
ble path of devastation; describes the prominent 
buildings consumed ; the thrilling, heroic and even 
humorous scenes in the streets, during the fire, and 
gives careful estimates of the losses, somewhat in de- 
tail, and a statement of insurance from official sources. 
The operations of the Relief Society are touched 
upon sufficiently to give the reader a general idea of 
the manner, in which charity has been disbursed. 
The losses in churches, schools, and institutions of 
music, art and amusement, as well as the public 
libraries, are also dwelt upon somewhat at length. 
In order to arrive at official reports .as far as possible, 
the pages of the book have been held open to the 
latest possible moment, and thus much valuable 
matter has been secured. Liberal space has also 
been given to the narrative of the Northwestern 
fires, the great fires of the world, and the work of 
rebuilding the city. With this preliminary state- 
ment the authors give their work to the public. 



Chicago, December 1, 1871. 




CHICAGO IN 1818. 

CHICAGO IN 1871. View from City Hall, looking south and southeast. 

CITY HALL before the fire. . 

CITY HALL after the fire. 

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE before the fire. 

DRAKE AND FARWELL BLOCK, Wabash avenue, before the fire. 

FIELD, LEITER & CO.'S BUILDING before the-fire. 

VIEW OF THE RUINS from Harrison street, north on Wabash avenue. 

VIEW ON CLARK STREET, south from Washington, before the fire. 

TRIBUNE BUILDING before the fire. 

ILLINOIS & MICHIGAN CENTRAL R. R. DEPOT before the fire. 

ILLINOIS & MICHIGAN CENTRAL R. R. DEPOT after the fire. 

BOOKSELLERS' ROW, State street, before the fire. 

SHERMAN HOUSE before the fire. 

UNITY (Mr. Collyer's) AND NEW ENGLAND CHURCHES before the fire. 

CHICAGO CITY WATER WORKS before the fire. 

PALMER HOUSE, State street, before the fire. 



(5) 



6 ILLUSTRATIONS. 

SHEPHARD BLOCK, Dearborn street. 

PALMER HOUSE, State street, after the fire. 

RUSH MEDICAL COLLEGE after the fire. 

SAND'S BREWERY after the fire. 

ILLINOIS CENTRAL R. R. LAND DEPARTMENT after the fire. 

PACIFIC HOTEL after the fire. 

BIGELOW HOUSE after the fire. 

ST. JAMES CHURCH after the fire. 

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, South side, after the fire. 

SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH after the fire. 

UNITY (Mr. Collyer's) CHURCH after the fire. 

NEW ENGLAND CHURCH after the fire. 

CHURCH OF THE HOLY NAME, CATHOLIC, after the fire. 

MICHIGAN SOUTHERN DEP-jT after the fire. 

OGDEN'S RESIDENCE, only residence left on North Division of burned district 

METHODIST CHURCH BLOCK after the fire. 

ST. PAUL'S CHURCH (UNIVERSALIST,) after the fire. 

ST. JOSEPH'S PRIORY (GERMAN CATHOLIC,) after the fire. 

WHERE THE FIRE BEGAN. 

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND COURT HOUSE after the fire. 

POST OFFICE AND CUSTOM HOUSE after the fire. 

CROSBY'S DISTILLERY after the fire. 

FIRST NATIONAL BANK after the fire. 

REPUBLIC LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY afier the fire 

MASONIC TEMPLE, Dearborn street, after the fire. 

DESTRUCTION OF THE CENTRAL ELEVATOR, at the mouth of Chicago river. 

THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION as it appeared from the prairie. 

DIAGRAM, showing the origin of the fire, and situation of the most prominent 
buildings destroyed. 

A COMPLETE MAP OF CHICAGO, showing the burned and unburned districts. 



CONTENTS. 



Chicago as it Was 

Situation— Plan of the City— Indian Trading Post— Gen. 
Wayne's Treaty — First Land Sale — First Settlement in 
Chicago— Pioneer Settlers — Mission Church and School — 
Village Taverns and Cabins— Fort Dearborn — Land 
Grants and Public Improvements— 1 ' Town of Chicago " 
Laid Out — The Beginning of Chicago — Growth of the 
Town — The City of Chicago Incorporated, 1837 — Increase 
of population till 1871 — How the City was built — Improve- 
ments, &c, &c. . 19 

TJve Water Works 

The Old Water Works, 1839— The Second Works, 1853— 
Plan and Capacity of Works — The Drainage — Defective 
and Obnoxious System — The New Water Works— The 
Great Tunnel under the Lake — Description of the Works — 
Water supplied through the Tunnel in 1867— General 
Enlargement of the Works — Capacity of the Works — 
Water Supply — Another Tuunel Contemplated — Cost of 
the Works — Character of Machinery . . . .29 

The Streets 

Total Length — Pavements — Wooden — McAdara — Boul- 
ders-Cinders — Gravel 39 

Sewerage 

Total Length of 39 

(7) 



8 CONTENTS. 

Gas 

How the City was Supplied—" Chicago Gas and Coke 

Company "—"Peoples' Gas Company " . ... 89 

Bridges and Tunnels 

Pivot Bridges, Connecting Divisions of the City— Wash- 
ington Street Tunnel— La Salle Street Tunnel . .40 

River and Canal 

Character of the River— Its Uses— A Nuisance Trans- 
formed into a Blessing— The Current of the River 
Reversed— The Water of Lake Michigan flowing " up the 
Chicago River," at an expense of $3,750,000 ... 40 

Chamber of Commerce 

Building Erected, 1864— Description of Edifice— Board of 
Trade . 42 

The Grain Market 

Beginning and Growth of— Shipments of Wheat— Corn 
and other Grains 42 

Elevators 

Number and Capacity of 44 

Cattle Yards 

Area of— General Description of— Cattle Trade— Receipts 
and Shipments of Cattle, Sheep and Hogs . . . 44 

Lumber Trade 

Magnitude of « . . 45 

Trade Exhibit, for 1870 

Lake Commerce 

Number and Character of Vessels engaged in . ° .46 

Railroads 

Number of— Miles of Track — Trains Arriving and Depart- 
ing Daily 46 



CONTENTS. 9 

Taxable Property 

Amount of , . . 47 

City Debt 

Amount and Character of— Limited . . . .47 

Manufactures 

Value of 47 

Banhs 

Number of— Aggregate Capital 47 

Post Office 

Third in business in the Country — Description of Build- 
ing — Government Offices 48 

The Court House 

The Building— Location, extent and use of . .48 

The Police 

Number of 49 

Fire Department 

How Organized — Number of Engines — Other Machines . 49 

Population 

Population by Wards for 1870 and 1871— Extent of De- 
struction in each Ward — The Character of Improvements 
in the several Wards — Description of Streets and Edifices 
— Churches, Halls and other Buildings . . . .50 

Paries and Boulevards 

Lincoln Park — Location, Extent and Plan of— Humboldt 
Park— Central Park— Douglas Park— North Park— South 
Park 57 

Business of Chicago 

Statement from the Tribune— Growth of Trade— Direct 
Importation— Bonded Warehouses— Tea Trade . . 59 



10 CONTENTS. 



THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION. 

Fire of Saturday 

Where and when the Fire began — How it Spread — What 
was Destroyed — The Ruins — The Loss .... G:> 

Fire of Sunday in the West Division 

The Alarm— The Fire, its Origin and Spread — The Gale — 
The Fire Line — The Firemen — Struggle against the Fire- 
Fiend — Course of the Fire — Progress of the Fire — The 
air filled with Brands — 150 Acres in Flames before Mid- 
night — The Fire Leaps Across the River — It Rushed as in 
a Field of Snow— Sublime— Terrific— Appalling— The 
Field of Destruction 04 

The South Division 

A Fiery Messenger at Midnight — Spread of the Fire in 
South Division — Flight of the Inhabitants — Showers of 
Coals and Fiie Brands— Flames Leaping from Hoof to 
Roof— Great Hotels, Great Blocks of Business Houses 
— Court House, Churches, Public Halls and Private Resi- 
dences Wrapped in Flame 73 

Prominent Buildings 

Depots — Hotels — Banks — Opera Houses— Theaters — Mu- 
seums — Churches — xVrt Buildings — Chamber of Commerce 
— Court House— Custom House and Post Office. . . 80 

Scenes from the Tribune Office 

A Turning Point 

Workings of the Fire 

Tornado of Flame— Sheets of Fire— Showers of Cinders- 
Billows of Smoke— White Heat— Steady Roar of advanc- 
ing Flame, the Carnival of Fire and the Howl of the 
Blast— Destructive Power of the Fire 85 



CONTENTS. 1 1 

Street Scenes 

How the Fire Affected Men— Mobs of Men, "Women and 
Children rushing wildly through the Streets— Efforts to 
Save Goods— Efforts to Save Valuables— Efforts to Save 
Life — Destruction of Liquor — Men and Boys reeling 
through the Streets to Destruction 83 

Character of Buildings 

Tribune Building — Crosby Opera House — McVicker's 
Theatre — Farwell Hall — Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion — Academy of Design — Academy of Sciences — Busi- 
Houses, &c 93 

Fire in the North Division 

Course of the Fire in the North Division — The Court 
House — The Sherman House — No More Efforts to Arrest 
The Flames — The City Conquered by the Fire Fiend — 
Destruction Complete 105 

Flight of the People 

The Inhabitants Driven from Place to Place — Refuge in 
the Lake — In the Great Parks — On the Plains — Aged, 
Infirm, Sick and Dying Fleeing for Life— Perilous 
Escapes Ill 

Intense Heat 

Complete Combustion— Wood, Iron and Stone alike 
Consumed. . . i 119 

Losses and Insurance 

List of Losses and Amounts of Insurance — Buildings and 
Stores— Churches 124 

Insurance Companies 

Losses of Companies by States— New York Companies- 
Rhode Island Companies— Connecticut Companies- 
Massachusetts Companies— Ohio Companies— Aggregate. 129 



12 



CONTENTS. 



Destruction of Property 
Sidewalks Destroyed 

Churches Burnt 

Episcopal— Presbyterian — Congregational — Baptist — 
Methodist— Unitarian— Roman Catholic— Universalist. . 135 

Value of Goods Destroyed 

Ale Breweries 

The Newspapers 

The Principal Buildings Destroyed 

Complete of noted Buildings, public and private de- 
stroyed— Hotels— Churches— Theatres— Banks— Savings 
Banks— Railway Stations 146 

The Fine Arts 

s 

Losses in Literature— Art— Mu sic and the Drama- 
Libraries— and Art Galleries destroyed— Places of Amuse- 
ment—Young Mens' Christian Association Library— 
The Florists 152 

Statement of the Fire Marshal 

The Fire Marshal Interviewed— What be said of the fire. 160 

Statement of the Assistant Fire Marshal 

The Patrol Duties 

Incidents and Scenes 171 



Proclamations 

The Governor of Illinois — The Governor of Wisconsin — 
The Governor of Michigan — The Governor of Iowa — The 
Governor of Ohio — Mayor of Chicago — Lieutenant Gen- 
eral Sheridan— Secretary of War— Official Orders— The 
Mayor of New York 173 



CONTENTS. 13 



t 

INCIDENTS. 

Bookseller's Row 193 

The Rescue of the Dead 194 

Destruction of Trunks .196 

Eccentricities 200 

Domestic Animals 201 

The Grave Yards . . 204 

Weddings and Marriages . 206 

The Ogden Mansion 209 

A Courageous Banker . . . . . . .211 

A Faithful Clerk 212 

A Baby Rescued 212 

Safe Vaults 213 

A Deranged Woman • 213 

Roche the Teamster 214 

What Cider Accomplished 217 

The Post Office Cat . . 217 

Fire Humors .218 

A Narrow Escape 220 

A Scene in the Tunnel 222 

Puritan Relics 223 

Advertisements 223 

An Heroic Woman 224 

Coolness 224 

Unfortunate Benevolence 225 

A Plucky Merchant 225 

Fire Proof Buildings 226 

What a Determined Man did 228 

A Fearful Trotting Match 232 

Fatal Leap for Life 236 

A Wedding Postponed . . • . . ... 239 

Unprofitable — Deep Grief 241 

The Children . . .242 

The Indians . 243 



n 



tun ISUVi 1 

Through the Tunnel 


o. 








. 244 


The Court House Bell 


1 








. 245 


Labors of Love 










. 246 


Reflections and Suggestions 










. 248 


After the Fire . 










. 258 


Chicago by Moonlight 










. 855 


The Spine of Chicago 










. 261 


Wanted to see the Ruins . 










. 269 


Anouncements . 










. 263 


A Mournful Case 










. 2(14 


Mrs. Lander's Letters 










. 260 


Escape and Death 










. 273 


The Petroleum Stone 










. 277 


Generous in Danger 










. 280 


Views of an Expert 










. 281 


Experience of Hon J. N. Arnolc 


1 








. 286 



RELIEF MEASURES. 

Meeting in Boston 204 

Statements of the Relief and Aid Society . . . . 2&7 

Ladies' Relief Society '300 

Donations 301 



RELIEF INCIDENTS. 

Scenes in the u Church of Refuge" . . . .307 

Robert Colly er's Sermon in Boston 311 

Feeling in England 315 

Sidney H. Gray's Letter 318 



Resumption of Business. 

Receipts and Shipments in two days — Receipts and Ship- 
ments for weeks ending November 11th and 18th, 1870 
and 1871, compared 327 



CONTENTS. 15 



NEW CHICAGO. 

" Resurgam" , * . 329 

Rebuilding Chicago 336 

The Work of Rebuilding 339 

The Future— The Missouri Republican .... 343 



EMINENT CITIZENS OF CHICAGO. 

Charles Toby— John Van Osdel 347 

Philip A. Hoyne— Hon. Digby N. Bell . . . .348 
Hon. Isaac V. Arnold — Thomas Church .... 349 
Col. Geo. B. Armstrong — James H. Brown . . . 350 
John V. Farwell— Wm. F. Codbough . . . .351 
William. Heath Byford— F. G. Welsh— Samuel Hoad . 352 

Julius Bauer 353 

James H. Hoes 354 

• 

POEMS. 

Chicago — John 6. Whittier 357 

The Smitten City — Geo. Alfred Townsend . . .361 

Chicago— Bret Harte 364 

Out of the Ashes — Howard Glyndon .... 365 
Paris and Chicago— New York Post 367 



NORTHWESTERN FIRES. 
Wisconsin. 

What the Sufferers saw and Experienced— Appearance of 
Peshtigo after the Fire— Before the Fire— The Extent of 
the Burned District in the State — The Track of the Tor- 
nado—Green Bay Region— Oconto County— Losses in 
Farming Districts 371 



16 CONTENTS. 

Michigan. 

Fires in Huron and Sanilac — Relief Labors — Destruction 
of Timber — Story of a Citizen near Port Huron . . 386 

Losses of Life Summed up 393 

THE GREAT FIRES OF THE WORLD. 

Rome, A. D. 64 399 

Moscow, 1812 401 

London, 1666— New York, 1835, 1843 . . . .404 

Pittsburgh, 1845 405 

Philadelphia, 1865— San Francisco, 1851— Portland, 1866. 40'> 
Charleston, 1838— Chicago, 1867-9, 1866-8 . . .407 

Other Great Fires 409 

Comparison 412 

Fire in the Air — A Remarkable Theory .... 416 

APPENDIX. 

The Origin of the Chicago Fire 

The Fire Alarm— Official Investigation— Testimony of 
Alarm Operators 419 

Court House Watchman. 

Statement of Matthias Brown 421 

Mrs. O'Leary, "Owner of the Cow" — Other Witnesses 
Examined 423 

Mayor Mason's Address 

Meeting of Council to Inaugurate the Mayor Elect . 439 

Mayor Medill's Message 

The Condition of the City — The Pioneers — Municipal 
Losses — Fire Department — Police Department — Board of 
Education — Other Municipal Losses — The Records— Com- 
bustible Character of Chicago — What the Future Fire 
Limits Should be— Independent Water Supply for Fires 
— Conclusion ........ 440 







FIRE 




MAP SHOWING EXACT LOCATION AND BOUNDARY AND ORIGIN OF FIRE 



CHICAGO AS IT WAS. 



Richaed Cobden, it is said, once remarked that no 
man ought to die without visiting America to see 
Niagara and Chicago. The City of Chicago has 
been regarded as one of the marvels of the age. 
Her rapid growth and her stately magnificence 
have been the astonishment of the world. Her 
early history, when contrasted with her wealth and 
grandeur on the 7th of October, 1871, becomes of 
peculiar interest, even to those whose particular 
concern for Chicago dates with the recent calamity. 

Chicago is situated near the head of Lake Mich- 
igan ; has an elevation of five hundred and ninety- 
one feet above the sea. It is situated upon both 
sides of the Chicago river, a slow stream, which at 
a point little over half a mile from the mouth, is 
formed by the junction of two streams, or branches, 
one flowing from the northwest, and the other from 
the southwest. The river and branches divide the 
city into three natural parts, legally known as the 
South, North and West Divisions. The South 

Division included all the territory east of the south 

2 (19) 



20 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO I 

branch, and south, of the main river. The North 
Division included the area east of the north branch, 
and north of the river; while the West Division 
included all that part of the city west of the two 
branches. From 16S1 to 1795, during the time of 
the French possession, and after its cession to Eng- 
land, very little is known of Chicago or the surround- 
ing country. After the declaration of peace, between 
the Colonists and the English, the latter, by intrigue, 
stirred up the border Indian warfare, which be- 
came general in the Western States, and continued 
until 1795, at which period, having been effectually 
chastised by General Wayne, the chiefs of the seve- 
ral tribes of Indians, by his invitation, assembled at 
Greenville, Ohio, and there effected a treaty of 
peace, which closed the War of the West. Among 
the numerous small tracts of land where forts and 
trading posts had been established, then ceded by 
the Indians to the United States, was one described 
as follows: One piece of land, six miles square, at 
the mouth of the Chiknjo River, emptying into the 
, southwest end of Lake Michigan, where a fort for- 
merly stood. 

Here we have an account of the first land trade 
of Chicago — the first transaction in that line of 
business which has at times distinguished Chicago 
above every other city of the nation — the first link 
in the chain of title to thousands upon thousands of 
transfers that have been made of the soil thus parted 
with by the Indians. 

When the first settlers of Chicago began to con- 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 21 

gregate and erect their cabins, with the view of 
forming the nucleus of a town, the point selected as 
the most available for village purposes, was the 
tract on the west side, at the junction of the north 
and south branches, and at first called Wolf's Point. 
In addition to the few buildings that were standing 
in 1818, we have only to mention this group at 
Wolf's Point, two or three buildings on the south 
side, between the point and the fort, and the 
Miller House, on the north side. 

The Miller House stood on the point of land 
between the north branch and the main channel. 
It was a log structure partly sided, and was erected 
by Mr. Samuel Miller, who resided here with his 
family and a brother by the name of John Miller. 
This house was used as a tavern. A little above its 
mouth on the north branch, was a log bridge, whicli 
gave access from that quarter to the business of the 
agency, and the little trade which may have con- 
tinued up to this time on the north branch. 

But the centre of attraction was at Wolf's Point, 
opposite the Miller House. Here, too, was another 
tavern, the public house, par excellence, of Chicago 
— the school house and church, as well as the store. 
On the south side, the most prominent object of in- 
terest was the tavern kept by Mr. Elijah Went worth, 
a man familiarly known as u 01d Geese," not as a 
burlesque on the worthy landlord, but as a compli- 
ment to his distinctive and original character. This 
building was partly log and partly frame, and was 
situated on the ground north of Lake Street Bridge, 



*nr 



22 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

now occupied as a lumber yard. North of this 
tavern was an oblong building which had been 
erected by Father Walker, a missionary of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, for a place of worship, 
and for a school house. Mr. Walker had at times 
ministered to the spiritual wants of the settlement, 
from this rude temple. Mr. W. had a residence in 
the country known as Walker's, which distinguished 
the locality at that time, which is now Plainh'eld, 
Will Co. This log tabernacle was the meeting 
house of the town. Mr. See, who, it seems, was 
the local preacher or exhorter, and who resided at 
the Point, was the supply which was most generally 
afforded. Preaching was upon a par with other 
callings and employments of the place. Mr. Went- 
worth's tavern was the best one kept in Chicago. 
It was the place where men of character who visited 
the town always stopped. It was the headquarters 
of Gen. Scott, when he came to Chicago with the 
troops for the Black Hawk War, in 1832. The 
distinctive name of this celebrated tavern, as famil- 
iarly used by all the settlers, was "liat Castle," in 
contrast with its rival in distinction on the north 
side, "Cobweb Castle," and in commemoration of a 
large class of regular boarders that infested its prem- 
ises, as well as every other cabin on the river shore. 
Next south of Wentwortlvs tavern was the resi- 
dence of James Kinzie. Next to these were log 
cabins, in which resided Alexander Robinson, and 
here occasionally, resided Billy Caldwell, whose wife 
was the wild daughter of a^ Indian Chief, and her 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 23 

presence did not always hallow his wigwam with 
the sanctity of peace. Still further south of these 
was the store-house of Mr. Robert A. Kinzie, son 
of Mr. John Kinzie, who had succeeded his father 
in the Indian trade, and his stock consisted of gro- 
ceries, Indian goods and supplies for the settlers, 
and was the store of the village, as essentially as 
Wentworth's was the village tavern. Across the 
south branch, on the east side, resided Mark JBeau- 
bien, brother of Gen. J. B. Beaubien, who also kept 
tavern. In 1831 his establishment had risen to a 
two-story dwelling, painted, with green blinds, and 
soon attained to the title of the Saganash Hotel — 
which was the Indian name of Billy Caldwell — and 
so called in honor of that distinguished chief and 
man of the times, for he was then one of the promi- 
nent residents of Chicago. It stood near what is 
now the southeast corner of Lake and Market 
streets. By this time there had been a place of 
amusement started in a little, low, log shanty, where 
was set up a billiard table, at which citizens of lei- 
sure amused themselves in knocking about three 
cracked balls. Further up the south* branch was 
the residence of a French Indian trader by the name 
of Bourissa. In the South Division, near the 
"slough" that drained the marshes of the south 
side, and emptied into the river at State street, was 
the trading house of Medert Beaubien — son of Col. 
Beaubien — a cabin of small pretensions. Upon the 
Lake shore, a little distances south of the fort, Col. 
Beaubien resided in the cabin wdiich he had pur- 



24 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

chased of the American Fur Company, in 1817 — 
which he had elevated to the dignity of a homestead, 
and which was now familiarly known among the 
settlers by the name of the " Wigwam." Near this 
residence was his store, in which the American Fur 
Company kept a stock of goods for the Indian trade. 

Further south,, the old Dean house had started on 
the way to ruin; the water of the lake had gradually 
encroached upon the shore-, until it had undermined 
the foundations of the cabin, and it had fallen back- 
ward down the bank, where it lay, a type of ruin, 
an emblem, in the estimation of the croakers (who 
existed at that time, as well as the present), of the 
future of Chicago. Another settler about this time 
had taken up his residence in the suburbs, to be 
rated with the other " outside settlers," who had 
linked their fortunes with Chicago, for better or 
worse — and this was Dr. Harmon, the father of 
Isaac D. Harmon, who had made a claim a mile 
and a half south, on the lake shore, on the site of 
the Indian battle ground of 1812, and was making 
a fine improvement there. This was the place since 
known as Clark's, the site of which is now occupied 
by some cf the finest residences in Chicago. 

In the year 1804 the United States erected Fort 
Dearborn upon the south bank of the river, just 
east of the present Michigan avenue. Mr. Kinzie 
and his son, John H., Indian traders, were the only 
white residents until the war of 1812, when the 
post was abandoned. The small garrison, in 
attempting to escape, were captured by the Potta- 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 25 

watoraies, and massacred at a point now represented 
by Twelfth street and Michigan avenue. In 1816 
the fort was rebuilt, and the Kinzies returned, and 
the fort served for many years as a resting place for 
emigrants passing to the West. The inhabitants did 
not exceed half-a-dozen families, until in 1827 Con- 
gress made a grant of land to aid in the construction 
of a canal to connect the waters of Lake Michigan 
with those of the Illinois river. In 1829 the State 
Legislature appointed a commission to mark out 
the route of the canal, and a surveyor arrived to 
mark out the town. Beside the garrison at that 
time, there were eight families, engaged mostly as 
Indian traders, in the place. Gov. Bond, the first 
Governor of Illinois, in his inaugural, in 1818, called 
the attention of the General Assembly to the im- 
portance of opening a canal to connect Lake Michi- 
gan with the Illinois river. In his valedictory, in 
1822, he again urged its importance. The session 
of Congress, 1821-2, passed an act, granting "per- 
mission to the State of Illinois to cut a canal through 
the public lands connecting the Illinois river with 
Lake Michigan, and granting to it the breadth of 
the canal and ninety feet on each side of it," coupled 
with the condition, " that the State should permit 
all articles belonging to the United States, or to any 
person in their employ, to pass toll free, forever." 

With a hard and protracted struggle by numerous 
individuals, and especially by Daniel P. Cook, Esq., 
who was at that time Representative in Congress, 
and from whom Cook county was named, an act 



25 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

was passed by Congress, March 2d, 1827, granting to 
the State for the construction of this work, " each 
alternate section of land, five miles in width, on each 
side of the proposed canal." We make mention of 
these facts, because it was from this act of Congress 
the State acquired the title to those lands which have 
formed the basis for many of its most important 
financial transactions ; from which originated the 
titles to the valuable canal lands, on which a large 
portion of the city is built — on which, too, villages, 
towns and cities have sprung up, all along its line. 

In the autumn of 1829, commissioners authorized 
the laying out of the " Town of Chicago," on the 
alternate section which belonged to the canal lands 
— lying upon the main channel of the river, and 
over the junction of the two branches. The first 
map of the original town of Chicago, by James 
Thompson, surveyor, bears date, August 4th, 1830. 
This was the first beginning of Chicago, as a legally 
recognized place among the towns and cities of the 
world — the first official act of organization, which 
must accordingly be dated as its birth, or real start- 
ing point, and the town was comprised within the 
limits of what are now known as Madison, State, 
Kinzie and Halstead streets, or about three-eighths 
of a square mile. Hence this city, with its popula- 
tion of 330,000 — the leading mart in the world for 
grain, pork, lumber, will have arrived on the 4th 
day of August, 1872, at the precocious maturity of 
forty-two years. In 1831 Cook county was organ- 
ized, embracing, in addition to the present county, 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FDTURE. 27 

the territory which now is known by five other 
large and populous counties. The prospective 
work on the canal was attracting population, 
but, in 1832, the cholera visited the incipient city, 
and was very severe. In 1832 the first public re- 
ligious worship was held in a log hut erected for 
that purpose. The tax list for 1832 amounted to 
$148.29. Lake street was laid out the same year. 
In 18 33 the settlement had increased enough to 
have a post office and postmaster, and a weekly 
mail ; and late in the year, the Chicago Democrat, a 
weekly paper, was started by John Calhoun. On 
the 10 th of August, the voters of Chicago held an 
election to determine whether they would become 
incorporated, and to elect trustees. Every man 
voted, and the number of voters was twenty-eight, 
many of whom are now living; and the levy for 
city taxes, in 1834, was $48.90. In 1834 the num- 
ber of voters had increased to one hundred and 
eleven, and a loan of $60 was negotiated for public 
improvements. In 1835 the number of voters was 
two hundred and eleven. In 1836 the town 
applied to the State Bank for a loan of $25,000, and 
was refused. In 1837 the Legislature incorporated 
the City of Chicago, and in May following the Hon. 
William B. Ogclen was elected Mayor of Chicago. 

Thus, on the first Tuesday in May, 1837, twenty- 
four years ago, commenced the City of Chicago, 
which then contained a population of 4,179. The 
following is a statement of the population of Chi- 
cago, for each year since that time : 



28 



THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION CHICAGO: 



Tear. 


Population. 


Year. 


Population 


1837 . . 


. 4,179 


1854 . . 


. 65,872 


1838 . . 


, 4,000 


1 855 . 


. 80,023 


1S:J9 . . 


. 4,200 


1856 . 


, . 86,000 


1840 . . 


4,470 


1857 . . 


. 93,000 


1841 . . 


5,500 


1858 . 


not taken 


1842 . . , 


6,590 


1859 . ■ 


. 90,000 


1843 . . 


7,580 


1860 . 


109,263 


1844 . . . 


8,000 


1861 . 


. 120,000 


1845 . . 


12,088 


1862 . 


137,030 


1846 . . 


14,169 


1863 . 


, 150,000 


1847 . . , 


16,859 


1864 . , 


161,288 


1S48 . . 


20,023 


1865 . 


187,446 


1849 . . 


23,047 


1806 . 


200,000 


1850 . . 


. 28,2b9 


1807 . 


. 220,000 


1851 . . 


34,000 


1868 . 


. 242,383 


1852 . . 


38,734 


1870 . 


. 298,977 


1S53 . . 


60,662 

n tlio ovfv. 


1871 . 

imvlmnrv m 


. 334,270 



wonderful city. 

The natural line of the site of Chicago, was but a 
few feet above that of the lake, and there was no 
drainage, and in seasons of rain the surface was 
covered with water. In the winter of 1855-6 the 
city ordered a change of grade, raising the height of 
the carriage ways an average of eight feet. This 
placed the lower or ground story of each building 
several feet below the level of the street; but the 
inconvenience was rapidly overcome by raising all 
the buildings, brick, stone and wood, up to the level. 
All the large buildings, including many hotels, 
business blocks, warehouses, &c, were raised, by 
means of screws, from their foundations a height of 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 29 

from six to ten feet, and new foundations built under 
them. This secured deep, dry cellars and admitted 
a thorough system of sewerage. The city ordered 
an effective dredging of the harbor, and the clay 
thus obtained served to fill the streets to the new 
grade. For several years, while this process was 
going on, the passage of Chicago streets was a work 
of trying difficulty to pedestrians. The expense was 
great, but was cheerfully borne by the property 
holders. Then commenced the works of permanent 
improvement in the city, and how far they had pro- 
gressed may be seen by the following comparative 
tables : 

Tear 1854. Tear 1871. 

Sewers, 6 J miles. 160 miles 

Nicholson pavement, . 600 feet. 40 " 

Stone pavement, ... " 5 " 

Water pipe and drains, 30 miles. 400 " 

Sidewalks (plank), . . 159 " 900 " 

Sidewalks (stone), . . 500 feet. SO " 

The Chicago Water Works. 

Chicago has always had the reputation of a boast- 
ful city, but the truth is, its growth, expansion and 
increase have always exceeded the predictions of its 
own most sanguine people. This is in nowise more 
clearly shown than in its water supply, the history 
of which at once tells the story of an enterprising 
people and of the city's extraordinary progress. In 
lh39, a company was chartered to supply Chicago 
with water. It erected a reservoir on the lake shore 



30 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO : 

at the corner of Michigan avenue and Water street, 
and with a pump, the motive power of which was a 
small engine of twenty-five horse power, drew water 
from the lake into the reservoir, and this water was 
distributed through logs, having a bore of from three 
to five inches. 

In 1851, a new company was formed, and in the 
fall of that year a plan was adopted, which was 
based upon the estimate, considered ridiculous at 
the time, that in 1866 the city would have 100,000, 
inhabitants. This company selected a site on the 
lake shore. A crib made of wood 20 by 40 feet 
was sunk 600 feet out in the lake, and from this a 
wooden inlet was constructed, through which the 
water was introduced to a large well, 25 feet deep. 
Over this well was erected a pump. This pump, 
moved by a steam engine, forced the water into the 
mains. At three points in the city were erected 
large stone reservoirs, in which the water accumu- 
lated and received a head, which forced it through 
the distributing pipes. A large tower was erected 
in the engine house, serving the double purpose of 
a chimney for the boilers, and a chamber for the 
standing column of water. The engine was of 200 
horse power. In December, 1853, the water was 
first pumped, and in February, 1854, water was first 
introduced into buildings. In the meantime rail- 
roads had been laid down to and from Chicago. 
The city had three trunk lines of rail communica- 
tion to the Atlantic seaboard, and as many west to 
the Mississippi river. A road had been built with 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 31 

two nearly parallel lines southward, the whole 
length of the State. Immigration was pouring in. 
In 1862, the length of water pipe laid exceeded 105 
miles and the demand was greater. In 1860, the 
city had exceeded 109,000 inhabitants, and the in- 
crease after the beginning of the war had received 
a new impetus. The commerce on the river or 
harbor had grown immensely. Simultaneously 
with the water system, the city had established a 
system of sewerage. Under the plan adopted the 
sewerage all found its way into the river. As the 
water was extended, the closets of all buildings were 
connected with the sewers. On the banks of the 
river and its branches were erected large distilleries 
with their accompanying cattle pens; the drainage 
all flowing into the river. The packing houses 
which had bedome numerous, with extensive busi- 
ness, emptied their refuse into the river. A result 
was that the river became a horrible nuisance. Its 
odor was terrific; as the wind happened to blow, 
so were the various parts of the city suffocated with 
this fearful stench. The river itself had no current 
save when the wind blew off shore, when the putrid 
stuff slowly escaped into the lake where its inky 
waters might be traced for miles; when there were 
heavy rains, the current carried out the blackened, 
sickening water, and for a few days after each of 
such floods, the river was clean again. The smells 
of Chicago river had become as historical as those 
of Cologne. The worst evil, however, was that when- 
ever the wind was from the south or east, the water 



32 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

of the river escaping into the lake was carried up 
to the crib, through which the water works ob- 
tained its supply. It was thence redistributed to 
the public. At times the stench in dwellings from 
this fearful liquid was intolerable. It was not only 
black, with a shocking odor, but was greasy to the 
touch. It became necessary, therefore, not only to 
provide better water, but also to provide for a supply 
commensurate with the growth of the city. 

In 1868, the city was authorized to construct a 
tunnel under the lake to obtain a supply of pure 
water. A careful survey was made, and such a 
proceeding was pronounced feasible. On the 9th 
of September, 1863, bids were opened and the con- 
tract awarded to Dull and Gowan, of Harrisburg, 
Pennsylvania, for $315,139. Ground was broken 
on the 17th of March, 1864. The shore shaft was 
first sunk. The original intention to have this shaft 
exclusively of brick w^as abandoned because of some 
quicksands, and a cylinder was sunk, 26 feet, to the 
bottom of the sand bed. This cylinder is 9 feet 
in diameter inside, and 2^ inches thick. 

From the shore shaft the tunnel is 5 feet wide 
and 5 feet 2 inches in height, the upper and lower 
arches being semi-circles. The masonry consists of 
brick 8 inches thick, laid in two rings, the bricks 
being laid lengthwise. The bottom of the tunnel 
where it connects with the lake shaft is 66 feet 
below the level of the earth, and 64 below the level 
of the lake. The inclination towards the shore is 
2 feet per mile. By closing the gate at the crib, 



ITS PAST, PRFSENT AND FUTURE. 33 

the ttinnel will empty into the shore shaft, and can 
then be inspected and if necessary repaired. The 
work was prosecuted incessantly by night and by 
day. Stiff blue clay was first met with in the bore, 
and with the exception of a few slight pockets of 
sand, the whole work was carried through the same 
formation. A railway was laid in the tunnel, and 
cars were filled with clay and drawn to the mouth 
by mules ; the returning cars carried back bricks 
and cement. There were several niches or turnouts 
constructed, having a double purpose of affording 
convenience and of giving strength to the work. 

In July, 1865, or nineteen months after the com- 
mencement of work at the shore end, the monster 
crib, built for the lake end of the tunnel, was 
launched, and towed safely to its destination, and 
sunk. It was of large proportions. The dimen- 
sions were imposing. It was of a pentagonal 
form, 40 feet high, with a circle of 98J feet 
in diameter was built of square logs having 
three walls 11 feet distant from each other, leaving 
in the center a space equal to a circle of 25 feet ; in 
this inner circle or space was sunk and fixed an 
iron cylinder 9 feet in diameter, extending from 
the water line 64 feet to the tunnel. The water at 
that point is 33 feet deep, and the cylinder is there- 
fore 31 feet below the bottom of the lake. To 
safely anchor this important structure so that it 
might withstand the fury of lake storms and the 
incessant beating of the waters, was no easy matter. 
It contains an equivalent to 750,000 feet of lumber, 



34 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO*. 

board measure; 150 tons of iron bolts, and is loaded 
with 4,500 tons of stone. Its whole weight is 5,700 
tons. The structure stands 12 feet above the water 
line. As soon as this was safely anchored and the 
cylinder sunk, the whole was covered with a build- 
ing to protect the workmen. The earth excavated 
was loaded upon scows, which brought back with 
them bricks and cement. The work on the tunnel 
proper did not begin at this end until December, 
1865, when the first brick was laid. The whole 
length of the tunnel was 2 miles. On January 1st, 
1865, there had been 4,825 feet of the tunnel built 
from the shore end. After that time work pro- 
gressed from both ends. On December 6th, 1866, 
the wall between the two gangs was broken, the 
men shook hands, and the last brick was laid by 
Major John B. Rice. The water was not, however, 
furnished to the city until March, 1867, when there 
was a grand civic celebration. 

The increase of water supply necessitated an in- 
crease of distributing power. The old engine and 
pump house was greatly enlarged. A new tower 
of stone, 130 feet high, was erected some distance 
west of the pump. Within this tower is an iron 
column, three feet in diameter, to the top of which 
the water is forced from the tunnel by the powerful 
pumping machinery, and thence by its own pressure 
is forced through the mains and distributing pipes 
of the city. The total cost of this grand work com- 
plete, with new engines and all things pertaining to 
the enlarged works, was about $1,000,000. 




CHICAGO WATER-WORKS. 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 37 

Since then, the laying of water mains has been 
pushed extensively. In 1854 the first pipe was laid. 
At the close of 1860, 71 miles of pipe had been laid. 
When the water was admitted in March, 1867, 
it flowed through 154 miles of pipe. In 1867 and 
1868, 50 additional miles were laid, and on the 1st 
of April, 1870, the total length of pipe laid was 239 
miles 4,763 feet, when the fire occurred there 
were about 275 miles of pipe laid. 

The increase in the consumption of water upon 
the procurement of a pure quality was surprising. 
The total amount supplied in 1866, averaged 8,600,- 
000 gallons daily. In 1867, the first year of the 
pure water, it averaged 11,560,000 gallons daily. 
In 1869 its average during the whole year was 
18,633,278 gallons daily, though on some days it 
equalled 20,000,000 gallons. In 1870 the average 
had increased to 21,000,000 gallons daily. In 1871 
no official report had been made, but the consump- 
tion was fully up to 24,000,000 gallons daily. So 
greatly had this demand exceeded even the most 
sanguine expectations, that it was feared the capacity 
of the works would not be sufficient. So this 
enterprising people resolved to extend the tunnel 
from its present shore end, west of southwest in 
an air-line, a distance of nearly three miles under 
the city, and under the main river and its south 
branch, and there erect a duplicate works. It 
was also contemplated to build another tunnel 
under the lake to secure an additional supply of 
water, to be used in case of any accident to the one 



38 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

now in use. The capacity of the present tunnel 
is 57,000,000 gallons daily. 

The quality of the water is most excellent. It is 
very pure and free of all earthy substances. Even 
in the most stormy seasons, such are the admirable 
precautions at the crib, that little or no sand enters 
the tunnel, and what does enter is caught in the 
catch basins before reaching the shore wells. The 
engraving represents the exterior of the works with 
the tower. The surrounding grounds had but re- 
cently been put in order, and the whole presented a 
handsome landscape, the broad lake spreading far to 
the eastward an appropriate back-ground. 

The annual expense of the pumping works, or 
operating expenses including repairs and salaries, 
was about $80,000, and the cost of delivering water 
per million of gallons was less than $10,000. The 
annual income from water service was about 
$650,000, paying the interest on the water debt, all 
expenses, and leaving a surplus to pay for exten- 
sions of the service pipes. 

The machinery of the water works was of the 
most excellent character. It had recently been 
augmented by an enormous engine, not surpassed in 
power or excellence of workmanship by any like 
production in the country. This engine was put in 
place in September. The fire destroying the sup- 
ports of the roof, let the burning mass fall upon this 
machinery. It was then exposed to the intense heat 
borne by the gale for twelve hours. The effect was 
damaging. As soon as possible a force of mechanics 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 39 

were put at work, and in eleven days an engine was 
in operation, again supplying the city with water. 

The Streets of Clvicago. 

The whole length of streets in Chicago numbers 531 miles. 
Of which there were improved : 

By wooden blocks, 37.60 miles. 

" boulders, 3.77 " 

" McAdam, 11.26 " 

" cindering, 2.40 " 

" gravelling, 6.43 " 

Total miles improved, . . .61.46 " 

The annual assessments upon abutting property 
since and including 18(59, for street improvements, 
exceeded $2,000,000. 

Sewerage. 

The total length of sewerage constructed to 
April 1st, 1870, was 136± miles; in 1870 and 1871 
about 50 miles additional were laid. 



Gas. 

The North and South Divisions were supplied by 
the Chicago Gas and Coke Company, whose works 
were at the junction of Adams and Franklin streets; 
and the West Division by the People's Gas Com- 
pany. The former company had just completed new 
works north of the city, and in six days after the 
fire, was again furnishing gas to the people, resident 
in that portion of its territory not swept by the fire. 



40 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

Bridges and Tunnels. 

Communication between the several parts of the 
city was kept up by pivot-bridges, spanning the river 
and its branches. During the fire all the bridges 
on the main river, four in number, were destroyed, 
and three were burned on the south branch. As 
these bridges had to be swung open to permit vessels 
to pass, the interruption to passengers and vehicles 
was so great that other means were demanded. 
For this purpose, in 1869, a tunnel was built under 
the south branch, under the line of Washington 
street. This tunnel has a double roadway for 
vehicles, and a twelve feet passage for pedestrians. 
In September, 1871, another but much better 
tunnel was constructed under the main river, on 
the line of La Salle street. In both cases the skill 
of the engineers and the success of the mechanics 
have been remarkable. These tunnels were not 
injured by the fire. 

The River and the Canal. 

To understand the last grand triumph of the enter- 
prise of the people of Chicago, it must be borne in 
mind that the river is the receiver of the entire 
sewerage system of Chicago. Into that river there 
is forever falling the foul discharges of the hundreds 
of miles of sewers, and in Chicago all the water 
closets are connected with the sewers. The wash- 
ings of the distilleries and of the packing-houses also 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 41 

flow into the river. As the river, though deep, is but 
in fact an estuary of the lake, there is no current, save 
when the wind is off shore, and consequently none 
of this filth was ever carried out, save when contin- 
ued heavy rains would produce a current. The 
river, therefore, was offensively odorous; in the 
winter, when covered with ice, the foul gases did 
not escape, but at other seasons it was intolerable. 
The Illinois and Michigan canal was connected 
with the south branch of the river by a lock, the 
canal being several feet above the river To supply 
the canal with water, pumps were erected, and the 
city was forced to hire these pumps to pump the 
water from the river into the canal continuously, thus 
drawing pure water into the river from the lake. But 
as the sewerage increased, the efficacy of the pumps 
diminished, and finally the consent of the Legisla- 
ture was obtained and the city resolved to so deepen 
the canal as to establish a continuous flow of water 
up stream from the lake, through the river into the 
canal. Many miles of the excavation was of solid 
rock, and the first estimate of $2,500,000 was ex- 
hausted. Finally, in June, 1871, the work was 
completed at a cost of $3,750,000, the locks were 
torn away, the river poured its inky stream of fetid 
water into the canal, and in twenty-four hours the 
water in the river was as pure as that of the lake. It 
continues to work admirably, much to the astonish- 
ment of those who insist, even in the face of this con- 
trary demonstration, that the water of a river will not 
flow up stream. There is a current of several miles 



42 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO! 

per hour constantly flowing to the head of the 
stream, keeping the river pure and inodorous. 
During the suspension of the water works, since the 
fire, water from the river has been pumped into the 
mains and distributed to the people. It was smoky 
but otherwise good. 

Chamber of Commerce. 

In 1864-5 the Chamber of Commerce was built 
at the southeast corner of Washington and La 
Salle streets, at a cost including the lot, of $490,000. 
In this magnificent building, built of marble, the 
Board of Trade, consisting of 1400 members, met 
daily for the transaction of business. It contained, 
also, offices occupied by two banks, insurance agen- 
cies, brokers, and commission merchants. The hall 
where the daily business was transacted was as fine 
as any in the country, and was the scene of many 
an exciting event. This building was swept by the 
fire as if it were made of wood. 

The Grain Market. 

Chicago had long since become the leading grain 
market of the world. The growth of this trade is 
but an illustration of the general growth of the city 
in all its branches of commerce. After the disas- 
trous events of 1837, Walker & Co., in 1838, 
commenced as an experiment the shipment of grain, 
and the shipment of that year was 78 bushels of 
wheat. Flour was not exported until 1844. The 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 



43 



record of corn shipments commenced in 1847. A 
few statements will show the progress of this trade : 



SJiipments of Wheat, 



Tear. 


Bushels. 


Tear. 


Bushels. 


1838, . . 


78 


1860, . 


. 12,402,191 


1841, . . 


40,000 


1861, . 


. 15,835,935 


1844, . . 


. 891,000 


1866, . 


. 10,118,907 


1848, . . 


. 2,160,000 


1868, . 


. 10,374,683 


1855, . . 


. 6,298,155 


mo, . 


. 16,432,585 



Com. 



Tear. 


Bash els. 


Tear. 


Bushels. 


1847, . 


67,315 


1816, 


. . 24,322,725 


1851, . 


. 3,221,317 


1866, 


. . 32,953,530 


1854, . 


. 6,626,054 


1869, 


. . 21,580,808 


1860, . 


. 13,700,113 


1870, 


. . 17,777,377 






1871, 


to October. 




Of all Grains. 





Reducing the flour shipped to bushels of wheat, 
the aggregate of all kinds of grain shipped in both 
forms is thus shown : 



Tear. 


Bushels. 


Tear. 


Bushels. 


1841, . 


40,000 


1862, , 


. 56,484,110 


1350, . 


. 1,830,938 


1866, 


. 66,736,660 


1854, . 


. 12,932,320 


1870, . 


. 54,745,903 


1860, . 


. 31,108,750 







The receipts and shipments during 1871, prom- 
ised to exceed by many millions of bushels those 
of any previous year. 



44 THE GKEAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO *. 

Elevators. 

The machinery by which this vast amount of 
grain was handled was the monster elevators, of 
which there were seventeen, with a total capacity 
of holding 11,5*0,000 bushels in store. The trains 
were run to these elevators and quickly emptied of 
their contents, while the business of loading a 
vessel was proportionately speedy. The elevators 
were built on the river, thus admitting of receiving 
from the cars on one side, and delivering to vessels 
on the other. Of these elevators there were six de- 
stroyed, having an aggregate capacity of 2,680,000 
bushels. They contained at the time 1,650,000 
bushels of grain. The other elevators yet remain. 
Those destroyed will rapidly be replaced. 

Cattle Yards. 

Another institution of this city was its stock yards, 
which were opened in December, 1865. Their area 
is 345 acres; 100 acres in pens; used for hotel and 
other buildings 45 acres; 31 miles of drainage; 12 
miles of paved streets and alleys ; 3 miles of water 
troughs; 12 miles of feed troughs; 2,300 gates; 
1,500 open pens; 800 covered pens; the whole 
supplied by water from an artesian well. The hotel 
is large. The establishment has its national bank, 
telegraph office, newspaper, and is reached by the 
tracks of 21 railroads and their tributary roads. 
These yards are uninjured by the fire. 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 



45 



The number of animals received and shipped at 
these yards during the year 1870 is as follows: 

Cattle. Receipts. Shipped. 

Cattle, 532,964 391,709 

Sheep, 349,855 116,711 

Hogs, live, 1,693,158 924,483 

Hogs, dressed, 260,214 171,188 



Lumber Trade. 

The magnitude of the lumber trade may be briefly 
stated in the following statement of the receipts : 



Year. Lumber, feet. 


Shingles. 


Lath. 


1867-8, 882,661,770 


447,039,275 


146,846,200 


1870-1, 1,018,998,685 


652,091,000 





More than half of these receipts of lumber are 
shipped hence to all parts of the west by rail and 
canal. 

Other Articles in 1870. 









Receipts. 


Shipments. 


Pork, barrels, . . 


40,883 


165,885 


Provisions, pounds 




. 52,162,881 


112,433,168 


Lard, pounds, . 




. 7,711,018 


43,292,249 


Beef, barrels, 






20,554 


65,529 


Seeds, pounds, 






. 18,681,148 


6,287,615 


Wool, pound, 






. 14,751,089 


15,826,536 


Hides, pounds, 






28,539,668 


27,245,846 


Salt, barrels, . . 






674,618 


571,013 


Coal, tons, 






887,474 


110,467 


Lead, pounds, , 






14,445,622 


1,855,471 


Hogs, packed, '( 


>9- 


'70 


, 2,595,233 





46 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO 



. Lake Commerce. 

The aggregate number of vessels arriving in Chi- 
cago during the year 1870, was 12,739, with a 
tonnage of 3,049,265 tons. The vessels owned in 
Chicago in 1870, are thus recorded: 

No. Tons. 

Steamers, 3 467 

Propellers, .10 4,256 

Tugs, 53 1,752 

River steamers, 4 376 

Steam canal boats, 14 1,226 

Barks, 34 11,753 

Brigs, 7 1,553 

Schooners, 242 45,201 

Scows, 41 2,956 

Barges, 8 3,103 

418 72,764 
Canal boats, 224 20,564 



Railroads. 

The number of main lines of railway entering 
Chicago was 21, including their extensions and 
branches 45, with nearly 10,000 miles of track 
through the country tributary to this city/ The 
number of passenger trains arriving daily was not 
less than 120, and of freight trains, about the same 
number. 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 47 



Taxable Property. 

The assessment for municipal taxation of per- 
sonal and private property for the year had just 
been completed, and was about $287,000,000. This 
did not include public property, and only so much 
of the personal as was visible. It was perhaps one- 
third less than the real or selling value. It did not 
include the churches, charitable or school property, 
all of which was valuable. 



City Belt. 

The debt of the City of Chicago in April, 1871, 
was $14,103,000, of which $1,500,000 was held in 
cash intended for the extension of the water works. 
The increase of the debt was prohibited by the Con- 
stitution of 1870. 



Manufactures. 

The manufactures of Chicago during 1870, pro- 
duced an aggregate of about $76,000,000. The 
heaviest of these establishments were destroyed. 



Banks. 

The City of Chicago had 25 banks, 17 of 
them national banks, with an aggregate capital 
of $13,000,000, and of deposits amounting to 



48 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

$35,000,000, all these banks, save the Prairie 
Savings Institution, were located within the burnt 
district, and their buildings destroyed. In no case 
was any money lost, though most of them lost their 
books. 



The Post Office. 

The Chicago Post Office was in general business, 
the third in the country, ranking next after Phila- 
delphia, but in the number of letters received and 
mailed, it was exceeded only by that of New York. 
The building was erected in 1855, and was sup- 
posed to be fire proof. It was of Athens marble. 
The exterior walls are standing. The building also 
contained the Custom House, United States Deposi- 
tory, United States Courts, and Marshal's offices. 
All the books and records were destroyed. The 
gold in the depository was recovered, having melted 
down, but the $1,300,000 of greenbacks and na- 
tional bank notes were consumed. 



The Court House 

Was a large building made of Lockport granite. 
It was three stories high, with a basement, used as 
a county jail. During 1870, the city erected a 
large wing on the west side of the square, and the 
comely-like structure on the east side. These were 
occupied in March last for the first time. They 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 49 

had been handsomely and expensively furnished 
throughout. All the records of all the courts, and 
of the city and county, including the record of 
deeds, were consumed in the fire. On the dome of 
the center building was recently erected a clock, 
with four dials, and on the belfry was hung a 
powerful fire alarm bell. The bellman did not 
abandon his post until the roof of the building was 
in flames. 

The Police. 

The police force consists of 450 men, under the 
general charge of a Board of Police Commissioners. 
The force is generally effective. 

Fire Department. 

The Fire Department consisted of four hook and 
ladder trucks ; two hose elevators ; 17 st«am engines ; 
54 hose carts; one fire escape, and 11 alarm bells; 
with 48,000 feet of hose. It was a paid depart- 
ment. Until this calamity, it had proved to be 
brave, vigorous and prompt, though there was a 
growing impression that its executive offi ,ers were 
not what they ought to be, neither the Police, 
nor Fire Department had become political or parti- 
san attachments, though the Commissioners are 
elective. 



50 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO I 



The Population. 

In June, 1870, the Federal census was taken, 
and in June, 1871, it was again taken by private 
enterprise. The following are the results : 

Wards. Tear 1870. Tear 1871. 

1 6,522 8,103 

2 14,320 13,449 

3 17,681 17,934 

4 12,174 14,022 

5 11,566 14,991 

6 19,445 22,918 

7 13,854 15,590 

8 22,911 25,420 

9 27,817 30,778 

10 13,771 17,292 

11 15,065 16,212 

12 13,970 15,018 

13 8,928 9,740 

14 . . . .• 9,035 9,339 

15 20,361 25,706 

16 14,045 16,380 

17 18,078 18,814 

18 17,084 18,805 

19 8,716 9,237 

20 13,628 14,522 

Totals, 298,977 334,270 

The destruction by the fire was nearly complete 
in the wards in which it occurred. The fire origin- 
ated in the Ninth Ward, burning out the northeast 
corner of that ward. Four blocks of the Tenth 
Ward had been destroyed the night before. I 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 51 

then crossed the river in the Second Ward, burning, 
leaving but a dozen dwellings in that ward, and de- 
stroying twenty-five or more in the Third Ward ; it 
swept every house in the First, Twentieth, Nine- 
teenth, Eighteenth, and Seventeenth Wards, and 
four-fifths of the Sixteenth Ward. This renders 
the computation of those rendered homeless, a mat- 
ter of easy computation. Taking the census of 
1871, as the basis, the following is the population 
whose habitations were destroyed. We follow the 
course of the fire. 



Inhabitants. 

9,237 
18,805 
18,814 
13,650 



Pards. 


Inhabitants. 


Wards. 


9 . . . 


. 2,000 


19 


10 . . . 


250 


18 


3 . . . 


250 


17 


2 . . . 


. 13,449 


16 


1 . . . 


. 8,103 




20 . . . 


. 14,522 ] 


^lendere 



The First Ward was, with but few exceptions, 
built of stone or brick ; the streets were all paved, 
but in many cases the board sidewalks had not yet 
given place to the stone. In this ward were concen- 
trated all the city and county buildings; all the 
banks; all the insurance brokers, and real estate 
offices ; nearly all the wholesale dry goods, groceries, 
jewellers, clothing, crockery and glassware, boots and 
shoes, drugs, oils and paint, and leather dealers ; all 
the hotels, save those built since 1869, the opera house, 
and all the theatres. During 1869 and '70 State 
street had been improved by the erection of some 
thirty or forty marble front business buildings, all 



52 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

six stories hisrh. In this street were most of the 
large booksellers and publishers. East of State 
street, and in the same ward, the improvements have 
been on an equal scale. There were but two 
churches in this ward, the Second Presbyterian, a 
stone building, and St. Mary's Koman Catholic. 
Adjoining the latter was the Convent of the Sisters 
of Mercy, which included a large boarding house 
and school. Near by, on Michigan avenue, was the 
marble residence of Bishop Foley. In the same 
ward were all the newspaper offices and principal 
publishing houses, including Callaghan & Cochroft, 
Law Publishers, who lost the plates of the reports 
of several States. The Opera House had been re- 
fitted at a cost of $90,000, and was to open on 
Monday night. Mc Vicker's Theatre had been sub- 
stantially rebuilt, at great cost. The United States 
Post Office, Custom House and Depository, was in 
the same part of the city. Though the ward covered 
a large area, the resident population was compara- 
tively small, those doing business there residing in 
other parts of the city. It contained large factories, 
in which were employed many thousands of women. 
At six o'clock in the evening the various working 
people, clerks, and others, male and female, would 
throng the streets in long processions, returning to 
their homes in various parts of the city. The va- 
rious horse railways had their common starting point 
on State street. 

Michigan avenue, until within a few years, was 
the grand place of residence. Built only upon one 



CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. 




ail 

"I I ' mil liill llii 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 55 

side, the dwellings looked out upon the broad lake, 
with an intervening park. Next to this was Wabash 
avenue, hardly less desirable as a residence, but the 
growth of business had become such that residence 
after residence was abandoned, and business, whole- 
sale principally, was converting once proud private 
mansions into places of traffic. Not a house stands 
on either avenue, north of Congress street; there 
one block was saved, including the Avenue Hotel. 
To the west of this the fire burned down to Harri- 
son street, the southern boundary of the Second 
Ward. 

The Second Ward contained a large proportion 
of wooden buildings, which were, however, giving 
way to those of stone and brick. It included the 
Palmer Hotel, opened in March; the Bigelow 
House, just furnished, but not opened ; and the 
Pacific Hotel, hardly completed. These three 
hotels were intended to surpass any of the other 
great hotels for which the city was proverbial. In 
the First Ward was the great Union Passenger 
Depot of the Illinois Central, Michigan Central, 
and Chicago Burlington and Quincy Railroads, 
and all the freight depots of the same roads. In 
the Second Ward was the magnificent and costly 
passenger depot of the Rock Island and the Michi- 
gan Southern Railroads. The buildings were all of 
stone. 

Crossing the river to the Twentieth Ward, the 

fire entered a field of more combustible material. 

For three blocks north of the river the buildings 

4 



56 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

were generally of brick, and for three blocks west 
of the lake the private residences, most of them 
costly, were of stone. Along the river were two 
elevators, McCormick's reaper factory, a freight de- 
pot, and various manufacturing establishments. On 
Kinzie street was the great meat market, to which 
all the slaughtered meat was brought, and from 
which most of the butchers got their daily supply. 
North of these parts and for miles, the buildings 
as a general thing, were of wood, and were con- 
sumed as so much kindling wood by the fire, driven 
by the furious gale. In this section there were 
several handsome churches — St. James, Episcopal, 
stone ; Cathedral of the Holy Name, R. C. ; St. 
Joseph's Church, R. C, German ; Unity Church, 
Rev. Robert Collyer's; New England Church; be- 
sides numerous frame churches. The Roman Catho- 
lic Orphan Asylum, stone, and two hospitals, were 
also in this part of the city. One stone Public 
School, of the modern style, and four brick schools 
were also within the area swept by the fire. To the 
east, near the lake shore, were the water works al- 
ready mentioned, and also several large breweries. In 
the same part of the city were located the supposed 
fire proof buildings of the Chicago Historical Society 
and Rush Medical College. The population of this 
North Division, except along the streets near the 
lake, was mostly of foreign birth. The Sixteenth 
and Seventeenth Wards were almost exclusively 
Germans. The Eighteenth was principally settled 
by Irish. The Nineteenth and Twentieth had a 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 57 

more mixed population, but the Germans were in 
the majority. The buildings destroyed in the Ninth 
and Tenth Wards have been described as wooden. 
The population di\lodged were mainly Irish, but in- 
cluded, also, a settlement of Bohemians in the Ninth 
Ward. 



The Parks and Boulevards. 

Chicago had just entered upon a system of parks 
and boulevards, which, when completed, would have 
been unequalled by those of any other city of the 
world. 

The first of these was Lincoln Park, a tract of 
land within the northern limits of the city, contain- 
ing one hundred and fifty-three acres, and with a 
broad front upon the lake. This park had been 
already comparatively completed and was a great 
public resort. The plan embraced a boulevard with 
a roadway 250 feet wide, proceeding from the 
northern extremity of this park westwardly about 
four miles, where it entered Humboldt Park, a 
tract of 290 acres. This park had only been com- 
menced ; it was enclosed and was partially planted. 
About two miles south of this, and connected by a 
like boulevard, was Central Park, containing 236 
acres, and a mile south of this park was Douglas 
Park, containing 232 acres. All of these parks 
were but in their infancy, but with the speed with 
which all such things progress in Chicago, would in a 
few years have become handsomely decorated places 



58 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

of resort. From Douglas Park, the boulevard upon 
the same extended to the south and east, until it 
reached North Park, a tract of over 500 acres, just 
south of the city. A mile and a half to the south 
and west of this park was South Park, which con- 
tained nearly 500 acres ; both parks containing com- 
bined 1,055 acres. The North and South Parks 
cost over two millions of dollars, for which the 
bonds of the South Division have been sold. Work 
on these parks will probably be suspended for years, 
as the property to be taxed for their improvement 
and maintenance has been destroyed. When com- 
pleted, as they would rapidly have been had not this 
fire occurred, they would have been unequalled. The 
length of boulevard, or broad paved avenue planted 
on both sides, would have been nearly twenty-five 
miles, exclusive of the roadways in the parks. No 
other equal extent of drives can be found in any 
other city of this day. The park system will be 
suspended, but not abandoned, and before five years 
are over, no other calamity intervening, the work 
will be resumed. The lands for parks and boule- 
vards have been purchased, and will be held until 
the city recovers some of her lost greatness and 
wealth. 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 59 



The Business of Chicago. 

On the 5th of October, only a day or two before 
the fire, the Chicago Tribune had the following 
editorial concerning the trade of the city: 

u Our "Washington despatches of yesterday show, 
that one more obstacle to the shipment of goods 
from foreign ports direct to Chicago has been re- 
moved. This is the permission of the Treasury 
Department to carry foreign goods, on which there 
is no duty, in the same bonded cars with goods upon 
which the duty is to be collected here. Few per- 
sons, except those directly engaged in the import 
trade of this city, are aware of what important 
changes have resulted from the recent removal of 
the unnecessary restrictions in regard to cars, and 
locks, and guards, that were imposed a year ago 
upon the shipment of goods direct from foreign ports 
to this city, Our leading dealers in dry goods, 
ribbons, hosiery, carpets, liquors, crockery, &c., say 
that they are importing from five to six times as 
much as they have ever done before at the same 
season of the year. It is only within a year that 
Chicago merchants have ever thought of keeping 
their own exclusive agents in Europe. Now, at 
least four prominent houses keep either members of 
their firms or an exclusive agent in Europe, the 
greater portion of the year, moving from one mar- 
ket to another, now buying German cloths, now at 
Basle for ribbons and hosiery, and again in England 



60 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

for carpets, &c. During the last four weeks a thou- 
sand tons of railroad iron have been received in 
Chicago, direct from England via Montreal, and we 
hear of another thousand tons afloat for here, that 
will arrive within the next few weeks. When we 
say that our merchants are importing six times as 
many goods as ever before, at this season of the year, 
it is not meant that their stock is six times as great 
— though there is a vast increase also in that respect 
— but mainly that they are buying six times as many 
of their goods direct from the foreign manufacturer, 
instead of buying them of middlemen in New York 
and other Eastern cities. As far as direct trade 
with Europe is concerned, this great change has 
been effected by relieving the Chicago importing 
merchant from the necessity of doing his warehousing 
in New York city instead of at home. The Chicago 
merchant now pays nothing until his goods arrive 
here, he gives his bond here, the goods are appraised 
here, and he can withdraw any portion of them 
from warehouse on any day and have them in his 
store without the former delays. In this connection 
it may be mentioned that the increased demand for 
Government bonded warehouse room has increased 
so much, that the Michigan Southern Company are 
now building a bonded warehouse on Harrison 
street, and the company, in conjunction with others 
to New York, intend to bond their lines, in order 
to make a specialty of carrying goods imported 
direct to Chicago. But it is not only with Europe 
that the direct foreign trade of Chicago has been so 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 61 

extensively increased this fall. The increase of the 
tea trade exceeds even that of the dry goods trade. 
It is a fact of great significance in this connection, 
that whereas the total quantity of teas in Govern- 
ment bonded warehouses in this city, on September 
30th, 1870, was only 2,500 chests, it is now nearly 
15,000 chests, all of which has come direct on 
through bills of lading from Hong Kong and Yoko- 
hama, through San Francisco to Chicago, without a 
day's unnecessary delay, and there are further re- 
ceipts of teas now via the North Western and Rock 
Island Railroads every day. This great increase of 
the direct importing trade of this city has been 
mainly within the past two months, as will be seen 
by the following table of the amount of duties paid 
at this custom house, during each month of the first 
quarter of the current fiscal year, as compared with 
the same time last year, viz: 

1870. 1871. 

July, $63,141 $10,375 

August, 76,803 87,608 

September, 55,909 174,706 

Total, $185,853 $332,689 , 

It will be seen that the amount of duties paid 
during September this year were over three times 
as great as during the same time last year. 

* As regards the tea trade there seems no reason 
why Chicago will not become the great distributing 



62 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

market for all the central part of the continent, be- 
tween the Allegheny and the Rocky mountains. 
As prominent cities as Cincinnati and St. Louis will, 
of course, do a portion, but the superior facilities of 
Chicago, in her constantly increasing network of 
railroads, are practically acknowledged by the New 
York tea houses, four or five of which have their 
resident agents here, receive their teas here via the 
overland route, and distribute them from this point 
all over the northwest. These agents receive but few 
teas from New York, and there is no longer any 
question of competition, as regards the route by which 
the teas consumed in the States west of Pennsylva- 
nia and New York shall come. The trans-continen- 
tal railroad on the one hand, and the increased 
facilities for direct importation on the other, are 
revolutionizing the foreign trade of the United 
States. We see evidence of this not only in the 
increased direct importations of Chicago merchants, 
but in the exports of products. As instances, the 
steamship Great Republic, which sailed from San 
Francisco, on October 1st, took 21,000 barrels of 
flour for Hong Kong; the ship Ringleader, which 
sailed the same day, took $100,000 worth more for 
the same port; and every regular Pacific steamer 
now takes more or less flour. If China and Japan 
continue to take our breadstufTs, at that rate, it will 
leave less to go to England, and will have the effect 
to make a better average of prices for the grain 
produced in the northwest." 





1. Sherml. 


42 


2. Briggs House. Not Burned. 


43. 


3. Metroes and Water Tower. 


44. 


4. CrtamK- Not Burned. 


45. 


5. Repub-- R- R- Depot. JYotBurned. 


A. 


6. Meller R. R- Depot. Chicago & 




Co.'sestern R. R. Not Burned. 


B. 


7. Matte: R- R- Depot. Not Burned. 


x. 


8. Adamiuse. 




9. A. M. Hou se. 




10. U. S. 





McVicker's Theatre. 

Armory Police Court. 

Gas-Works. 

Elevator A. 

Methodist Church, (Wabash Avenue.) 
Not Burned. 

Elevator. Not Burned. 

Bridges Burned. 

Tunnels under the River at Lasalle St., 
connecting^. & S. sides; at Wash- 
ington St., connectingS.&W. sides. 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 63 

THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION. 

The Fire of Saturday. 

About 10 o'clock on Saturday night, Octobei 
7th, 1871, afire broke out on South Clinton street, 
just north of Van Buren street.^ A fierce wind 
from the southwest was blowing at the time, and 
despite the exertions of the firemen it destroyed all 
the buildings within the area bounded by Adams on 
the north, Clinton on the west, Van Buren on the 
south, and the river on the east, excepting a few 
valueless buildings on the northwest corner of 
Clinton and Adams, a row of frame buildings on 
Van Buren street from Clinton to Canal, and 
Murray Nelson's grain elevator, which was situated 
east of Canal street, and near Adams street bridge. 
The buildings destroyed were not very valuable, 
being mostly two-story frame buildings occupied as 
laborers' boarding houses. In one of these was a 
corpse of a woman, and her friends were holding a 
"wake" over her remains. The friends fled before 
the fire, leaving the dead body to be consumed. 
Between Canal street and the river were a number 
of coal yards, and the extensive lumber yard of 
Chapin & Foss. The piles of coal and lumber 
burned all day on Sunday, and when night set in 
the sky reflected the brilliant light of the blazing 
mass below. The loss of property by this fire 
which swept an area of about sixteen acres was 



> 




Sherman House. 

2. Briggs' House 

3. Metropolitan Hotel. V 

4. Chamber of Commerce. 

5. Republican Office. 

0. Meller's Jewelry Storo, and Baker & 
Co.'s Engraving Rooms. 

7. Mattoson House. 

8. Adams' Express Office. 

9. A. M. N. Express Office, 
10. U. S. Express Office, 



11. Tremont House. 

12. Opera House. St. James' Hot« I 

13. Field & Letter's Store. 

14. First National Bank Building. 
10. Chicago Times. 

16. Booksellers' Row. Western N 

17. Drake & Farwell Block. 

18. Tribune Building. 

19. Custom House and Post Office. 

20. Evening Post and Staat* Zeitur g 

21. Farwell Hall, 



Bigelow Hotel. 

Academy of Fine Arts. 

Palmer House. 

Ogden Hotel. 

Jones' School. 

Michigan Southern & Chicago, Rock 

Island & Pacific Railroad Depot. 
III. Central R. R. Land Department. 
MI.Cen.R.R. Depot & Freight House. 
GalenaDepot. Chicago* N. W. R. R. 
Historical Society. 



Turner Hall. 

M. Ogden's House. Not Burned. 

34. Water-Works and Water Tower. 

35. Lynn Block. Not Burned. 

36. P.F.W.&C. R. R. Depot. Not Burned. 

37. Milwaukee R. R. Depot. Chicago & 

Nerth-Western R. R. Not Burned. 

38. C. & N. W. R. R. Depot. Not Burned. 

39. Adams' House. 

40. Massasoit House, 

41. City Hotel. 



42. McVicker's Theatre. 

43. Armory Police Court. 

44. Gas-Works. 

45. Elevator A. 

A. Methodist Church, (Wabash Avenue.) 

Not Burned. 

B. Elevator. Not Burned. 
X. Bridges Burned. 

Tunnels under the River at Lasalle St., 
connecting v N. & S. sides; at Wash- 
ington St., connecting S.&W. sides. 



64 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO *. 

about $300,000. The neighborhood was visited 
during the day by thousands of persons. About 
one hundred families were turned out of their 
homes by the fire. 



The Fire of Sunday in the West Division. 

At precisely half-past nine o'clock on Sunday 
evening the fire-bell sounded an alarm, and simulta- 
neously a bright light appeared in the southwest. 
To the great majority of persons this appeared but 
a revival of the fire of the previous night. It was 
just as the churches were out and the congregations 
were returning to their homes. No special attention 
was given to the fire, and many hundreds of families, 
after noticing that it was at a great distance, went 
to their homes, and later retired to sleep, all uncon- 
scious that the demon was unloosed which would 
disturb and expel them before many hours. Stand- 
ing to the west of the territory covered by the fire 
of Saturday, we readily discovered that the alarm 
was not called for by any revival of the embers of 
that conflagration. Proceeding directly to the scene ; 
we discovered that it had originated in a cow-shed 
in the rear of a one-story frame building, on the 
northeast corner of Dekoven and Jefferson streets. 
The origin is a mystery. The story that an attempt 
to milk a cow by the light of a kerosene lamp, had 
ended in the overturning of the lamp, and the rapid 
firing of the cow-shed, is now known to be untrue. 
It must always be borne in mind that for thirty-six 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 65 

hours previously the wind had been blowing with 
unusual violence from the southwest. The flames 
immediately spread to the adjoining sheds in the 
interior of the block, the wind bearing them far in 
advance. By reference to the map it will be seen 
that from the initial point of the fire to the water 
works, the direction is directly northeast, and in the 
light of what followed from the first outburst, it 
seemed as if the fire and the gale had united to 
mow a breadth of desolation from the one place to 
the other in the shortest possible space of time. 
From the beginning the fire rushed forward in a 
varying breadth, directly before the wind in a literal 
air line, to the destruction of the water works. Be- 
fore the firemen had reached the scene, the fire had 
crossed Taylor street, thence into Forquer street, 
burning a breadth of from fifty to eighty feet, 
leaving behind it the blazing buildings to spread 
the conflagration to the right and the left. It then 
reached Clinton street, just south of Polk street, 
still confining its breadth to two buildings, some- 
times to three ; but cutting diagonally through the 
blocks, it included within its path the ends of many 
other buildings. The firemen posted themselves in 
front of the fire, struggling to arrest it, but their 
labors were in vain; they might as well have at- 
tempted to arrest the wind itself because at this time 
the wind and the fire were the same thing, the blaze 
often reaching across the streets, and burning brands 
were carried far in advance of the actual fire. There 
had been no rain in Chicago, of any accounf, for 



66 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

nearly six weeks, and the wooden buildings, tene- 
ments, lumber piles, and sidewalks, were as dry as 
paper and burned as readily. Though the wind 
carried the original fire directly before it, it also, by 
its eddies and currents, extended it. Though the 
northwest and southeast corners of the block, where 
the fire began, escaped destruction, it turned back 
to Jefferson street at a point two blocks north, and 
burned all the buildings on the east side of that 
street to a point one-half a block north of Harrison 
street. To the east it extended gradually from the 
point where it crossed Taylor street to Canal street, 
and thence to the river, which it crossed at Polk 
street, destroying the bridge, and setting fire to the 
extensive works of the Chicago Hide and Leather 
Company. 

The main fire — the advance guard after crossing 
Polk street — soon reached the rear of several planing 
mills and factories, the buildings being all of wood ; 
these furnished the peculiar aid this fire needed 
to make it irresistible. It would lift a bundle of 
blazing shingles and bearing it upon the wind would 
deposit them on the roofs of buildings far in ad- 
vance. The line of the continuous fire was thus 
considerably hastened. The result was as if a corps 
of men were firing the city at various points simul- 
taneously. As the continuous fire came along before 
the wind, it found buildings already ablaze and 
still others in advance already ignited. While this 
was going on in advance the fire at the base was ex- 
tending to the east, and as each building caught, 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 67 

the wind carried the flames forward, making the 
breadth of the destruction forever wider and wider. 
In this way all the area between Jefferson street and 
the river north of Polk and south of Van Buren 
street was soon enveloped in flames. The scene at 
this time was grand to the spectator. The wind 
seemed to gain fresh intensity. The blazing brands 
were thick, and their flights long. Before the fire 
had reached Van Buren street, blazing faggots, 
shingles and other brands had commenced falling 
in the North Division. At 11.30 o'clock the ad- 
vance of the fire reached Van Buren street, the 
south line of the fire of the previous night, and here 
had there been no more than an ordinary gale, it 
would have stopped. Before it were the broad six- 
teen acres which had been swept of its combustibles 
the night before. When the fire enveloped the 
buildings on Van Buren street, there was behind it 
in full blaze a conflagration covering perhaps 150 
acres — the food for which was planing and saw 
mills, dwellings, barns, factories and shops, lumber 
yards, coal depots, all of the most combustible 
character. It was, notwithstanding its terrors, a 
brilliant spectacle. The smoke, except immediately 
in front, did not obscure the view, but everywhere 
was a broad sheet of flame leaping, darting, and 
sending forth, as if from some grand pyrotechnic 
preparation, the most brilliant, dazzling meteors of 
living fire. 

Here was the grand turning point in the confla- 
gration. Here the fire, under ordinary circumstan- 

/ - 



68 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

ces, would have stopped; here it had consumed 
everything that had been in its path. To the north 
lay the plain laid waste the night before, and hav- 
ing nothing to consume except the coal, already on 
fire, and the Nelson elevator at its northeast ex- 
tremity. To the west was the wind ; to the east 
was the river. But afar off to the northeast beyond 
two rivers, beyond the great structures of hotels, 
banks and warehouses, beyond the towering walls 
of marble and of brick, away off in the northwest, 
two miles distant, were the water works, the only 
possible human agent that could save the city from 
annihilation, and to that the grand objective point 
of wind and fire, this conflagration seemed deter- 
mined to reach. Precisely at midnight, a blazing 
board carried by the wind fell upon a cluster of 
miserable shanties, striking them just at the point 
where the roofs of several made a sort of junction, 
affording a secure lodgement. These buildings 
were on Adams and Franklin streets, east of the 
river, a third of a mile from any burning building of 
any size west of the river. In a moment a blaze 
sprang up instantly, and the wind carried it to 
the northeast, leaving between the two fires the 
large building used for police business by the city, 
and known as the Armory, and the buildings of the 
south side Gas Corrpany, various coal yards, and 
numerous other buildings, large and small, in the 
area between the two fires. The progress of the 
fire was immediately forward. The blazing torches 
were carried by the wind far in advance, and where- 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 69 

ever they fell they produced a fire. From that point 
until the fire crossed Madison street, there were 
several distinct fires, widely separated, burning simul- 
taneously, with large blocks of buildings between. 

But the continuous fire followed, overtaking these 
advance conflagrations, gathering new strength from 
them, and forever sending forth its pioneers — forever 
keeping its due course to the water works, the 
only hope of the doomed city. The operations 
of the fire after it had crossed or jumped the 
river from Canal and Van Buren to Adams and 
Franklin, belong to the history of the South 
Division. But, from a point of observation to 
the windward of the fire, the scene was, perhaps, 
unequalled. No thought of any serious devastation 
had occurred to any one, until the fire crossed the 
river. Until this time no one had supposed it would 
amount to any more than the destruction of 
the frame buildings which it had engulfed. All 
had anticipated that it would stop upon reaching 
the boundaries of the district burned the night 
before ; but the general alarm which was now rung 
out in all parts of the city, the blazing lights which 
marked its path for over nearly a mile in one di- 
rection, and half a mile in another, had aroused all 
Chicago. The people of the comparatively remote 
North Division were aroused, and for an hour, 
gazed upon the extraordinary spectacle spread out 
to the south and west of them, hardly admitting 
that there was any danger to them. But when the 
fire burst forth in Franklin street, at Adams ; when 



70 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO. 

it rushed as in a field of straw, through the alleys 
and intervening streets to Wells, and eventually to 
Madison; when blazing boards and lumps of fire 
were falling thick and heavy on Lake and Water 
streets; and far away in the North Division, when 
fires broke out at intervening distances, far in ad- 
vance of the main fire ; when, standing to the west, 
there could be plainly distinguished five distinct fires 
in the route of the wind, each a little in advance of 
the other, and behind all these a sheet of con- 
tinuous flame, reaching a mile and a half to the 
southwest, the effect so far exceeded any previous 
observation as to defy description. It was sublime, 
yet terrific; magnificent, yet appalling. Even while 
the brave watchman in the court house tower 
made the old bell peal forth its warning notes, 
the flames had not only reached the stately build- 
ings facing the square, but had broken out on the 
north side of the river, beyond State street, and 
were making their way directly to the water 
works. 

In the meantime, the fire on the West Division 
had gone on in its lateral extensions. Jefferson street 
runs due north ; the wind, in its fury had carried 
the fire far to the north and to the east ; but this 
did not save Jefferson street. The east side of 
that street presents remarkable instances of the 
course of the fire, governed only by the wind. 
There are a number of houses left on that side of 
the street, the fire having burned all the adjoining 
buildings, and then, passing to the rear of these, re 




WHERE THE FIRE BEGAN. 




feiv.v.w-to-r.vw 



OGDEN'S RESIDENCE. ONLY RESIDENCE LEFT ON NORTH DIVISION 
OF BURNED DISTRICT. 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 73 

turned to Jefferson street, north of them, again. It 
was not until eleven o'clock next day, fifteen hours 
after the beginning of the fire, that the half dozen 
buildings to the north and east of the one where the 
fire originated, were burned. The fire had burned 
back to them in the very teeth of the wind. It is 
also remarkable, that though Jefferson street in that 
part of the city is very narrow, not exceeding forty 
feet, including both sidewalks, not one house on the 
west line of the street was burned, and none of them 
were scorched or blistered. The wind in its force 
had blown back the fire from the street and had also 
blown back the heat. Until the destruction of the 
water works, the people in the neighborhood, to the 
windward of the fire, had fought and resisted it by 
the use of water, but when the great engines ceased 
to pump, all means of defence were lost, and the city 
was at the mercy of the wind. In the reaction of 
the fire, after it commenced on the South Division, 
the bridge over the river at Adams street, was 
burned, and also Nelson's elevator, which had es- 
caped the night before. 

The South Division. 

There was probably not a person in the South 
Division who imagined for a moment that the fire 
would extend beyond the portion of the city in 
which it originated. Indeed, when it approached 
the burned district of the previous Saturday night's 
conflagration, there was a universal sigh of relief, 



74 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

for here certainly it would be stayed, notwithstand- 
ing the furious wind. The hope was a futile one. 
At just twenty minutes past twelve, a huge blazing 
brand was blown across the river. Onward it sped, 
like a fiery messenger of doom, and lodged upon 
the roof of a three-story tenement house, which was 
as dry as a tinder box. The roof was immediately in 
a blaze, and almost instantly every part of the build- 
ing emitted furious jets of flame. The house was 
about midway between Adams, Monroe, Wells and 
Market streets, and surrounded by one and two- 
story wooden houses, and alleys littered with all 
sorts of inflammable materials. Through this wooden 
nest, the fire spread with inconceivable rapidity and 
soon attacked another group of low, wooden build- 
ings known as Conley*s Patch, densely covered with 
saloons, tumble-down hovels and sheds, and peopled 
by the lowest class in the city. For years this 
spot had been the terror of the neighborhood be- 
yond it, and had been stained with every conceiva- 
ble crime. The male residents were absent at the 
fire in the West Division, and as the flames seized 
upon it, squalid women and children rushed out in 
droves. Most of them escaped, but undoubtedly 
some were overtaken by the fire and miserably 
perished. Eight and left the flames spread as fast 
as a man could walk, and soon the Gas Works and 
huge piles of coal in the yard took fire, and a red 
glare shone all over the doomed city. Down the 
south line of Monroe street, it sped with lightning- 
like rapidity. A fearful mass of flames leaped the 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 75 

street, lapping up John V. Farewell's stables and 
those of the United States Express Company, and 
burning many of their noble animals. Across 
Wells street it sped, sweeping everything before 
it and driving out hundreds of women and child- 
ren, who fled in all directions without saving a scrap 
of household property. The fire was now beyond 
the control of the firemen and henceforth was to go 
on its way with no one to check it. Northward 
and eastward the flames progressed crossing Mad- 
ison street and extending east to La Salle street, at 
the same time destroying stone, brick and wooden 
structures alike. 

Another column of fire crossed the river further 
north and now it sped on its way with the same 
terrible power and swiftness. Great masses of flame 
from each division leaped far in advance of the main 
columns, and kindling new fires returned to com- 
plete the work of destruction. In almost an incon- 
ceivably short space of time the entire tract of the 
South Division, between the river and La Salle street, 
was in flames, and south of Van Buren, the fire was 
working steadily against the wind, taking the splen- 
did depot of the Michigan Southern Railroad for a 
starting point, south to Harrison street, thence de- 
stroying a narrow strip along the river as far south 
as Taylor street. 

The two main columns sent out detachments 
which entered every street with the regularity of an 
advancing army. Standing at the lake end of any 
one of the eleven streets between the river and 



76 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

Michigan avenue, the spectator saw a furious 
shower of livid coals and fire brands sweep round 
the corners, followed by a sheet of dazzling flame, 
which would suck into the windows and instantly 
fire the buildings. At the same time the fire en- 
tering the alleys burst through the rear of buildings 
on either side, swept through them, and dashing 
through the fronts united in one solid, writhing, 
twisting column of fire, which would shoot up 
into the air a hundred feet,. and then, seized by the 
wind, leap to roofs in the next block and fire them. 
The progress was aided by huge, blazing brands, 
which the blasts would send crashing through win* 
dows into the interiors, of buildings, or into awnings, 
setting everything afire adjacent to them. The very 
goods which were tumbled into the streets aided the 
march of the destroyer. 

The main column of the fire had now crossed 
Washington street. The Chamber of Commerce, 
the Telegraph Office and the lofty insurance blocks 
were all in flames. The Court House bell rung peal 
after peal, ringing its own knell, for the flames 
speadily leaped to its dome and fired it. For a few 
minutes its blazing trellis work, sheeted with flames, 
stood out against the sky in splendid relief. Then 
in every window at the same instant, an ominous 
glare appeared. The flames burst out, the dome 
fell in, and then a crash told that the interior walls 
had yielded and the Court House was no more. The 
Sherman House was the next to go, and crossing 
Clark street, Hooley's Opera House, Wood's Mu- 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 77 

seum, the Matteson House, the Tremont House 
and whole squares of palatial business blocks melted 
away before the destroyer as snow melts in water. 

In the meantime, still another column was sweep- 
ing over the South Division. The great Ogden 
House, which covered an entire square, and which 
was nearly finished, was a mass of flames from 
basement to roof, and from its towering height and 
grand proportions, presented a sublime spectacle. 
The new and beautiful Bigelow House was next 
wrapped in the flames, and so, on they went, taking 
successively the new Honore and Shepherd blocks 
on Dearborn street. At this point, for a time, the 
solid walls of the post office presented a barrier. 
Thwarted here, the flames spread down Clark street 
to the north, and then, turning Madison, came up 
the south line of the street like a whirlwind, and, 
turning Dearborn, melted away the Reynold's block 
almost immediately, bringing them to the north 
side of the post office ; while another column, 
coming east in Monroe, attacked it on the west 
side. Before this joint attack, it yielded, and 
although its walls stood bravely its interior was 
soon gutted. When the flames turned the corner of 
Madison and Dearborn streets, a huge column shot 
across diagonally and fired the Dearborn Theatre, 
further north, and from this point both right and left 
destruction spread anew. To the left, it went clown 
to Washington street, and again crossing, caught 
the roof of Crosby's Opera House. In almost the 
time it takes to write these lines, that noble build- 



78 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO : 

ing, with the handsomest operatic auditorium in 
the country, with its wealth of bronzes, paintings, 
statuary and rich ornamentations, was destroyed, 
while the St. James Hotel adjoining it on the east, 
which had two or three times before stood the test 
of fire, at last yielded and fell. To the right, the 
flames quickly reached the corner of Madison and 
Dearborn streets, opposite the Tribune office. A 
vacant lot, formerly occupied by the Dearborn 
School, intervened, but the fire quickly passed round 
it and came up on the other side. The Tribune 
building, one of the noblest structures in the city, 
on the southeast corner of Dearborn and Madison 
streets, had already stood the test bravely. The 
fire came down on the south side of it from Monroe 
street and dashed against its walls in vain. It was 
the key to that vicinity, and if it should stand, much 
valuable property it was hoped might yet be saved. 
But far to the south the flames had seized the 
huge eight-story Palmer House, and came sweep- 
ing northward with fearful rapidity to McVicker's 
Theatre, separated from the east wall of the 
Tribune building only by a narrow alley. This 
new onset of the fire was irresistible. From the 
other three attacks, it had become heated to an in- 
tense degree and was ready to kindle at the slight- 
est sparks which should penetrate to its inte- 
rior. Its roof yielded. The iron shutters on the 
alley side, bent by the fire, sprung out of place, and 
speedily the whole interior was in a mass of smoul- 
dering ruin. Of the strength of the structure, it 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 79 

may be said that on the day after the fire the 
walls were still standing. Some of the floors were 
intact, and in the basement the presses, boiler and 
engines sustained little damage beyond the burning 
of the wood work, and a slight warping of some of 
the iron work. 

At Field & Leiter's mammoth establishment, on 
the corner of State and Washington streets, a deter- 
mined effort was made to save the building but it 
was useless. The flames attacked it from the north 
and eastwardly in the rear, and it soon yielded. 
There was still a narrow strip bounded by Wash- 
ington street on the north, Harrison street on the 
south, State street on the west, and the lake on the 
east, two blocks in width and about half a mile in 
length, not yet burned. The fire to traverse it must 
burn against the wind, and strong hopes were 
entertained that this tract might yet escape. But 
all the heavy warehouses at the north termini of 
these streets were in flames. There was no water 
to check it, for before this time, eight o'clock on 
Tuesday morning, the water works in the North 
Division had been destroyed. Slowly but surely 
the fire worked up these streets, right and left. 
West of State street, the fire, hours before, had 
reached Harrison and stopped. On Third and 
Fourth avenues buildings were torn down. On 
State street and Wabash avenue, buildings were 
levelled te the ground by General Sheridan's orders ; 
and the splendid manner in which the Wabash 
avenue Methodist Church, one of the oldest struc- 



80 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO : 

tures in the city, resisted, also held the fire in 
check at the corner of this avenue and Harrison 
street. On Michigan avenue the fire did not reach 
Harrison. There were no buildings on the east side 
of it. The west burned slowly, the last building 
consumed being the Terrace block. Hon. J. Y. 
Scammon resided in the extreme south house, and 
between this and Congress street was a vacant lot. 
Here the fire was checked, and those living south 
of Harrison street breathed more freely. 

Prominent Buildings. 

Let us glance for a moment at the principal build- 
ings destroyed by the south side fire, for in them 
was contained almost the entire business wealth of 
Chicago. The list includes the Michigan and Il- 
linois Central Depots, two of the finest passenger 
structures in the United States, and their adjacent 
freight depots ; the old and familiar Tremont House, 
Sherman House, Briggs House, Matteson House, St. 
James Hotel, Nevada House, Adams House, Mas- 
sasoit House, Girard House, Metropolitan House, 
all substantial brick or stone hotels, the magnificent 
Ogden House, covering an entire square, the walls 
of which had already reached the top story, the new 
Bigelow House, which had just received $80,000 
worth of new furniture, and the new eight-story 
Palmer House, on State street, which had been in 
successful operation a few months ; every bank build- 
ing in Chicago except the small Twenty-second Street 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 81 

Savings Bank. Every insurance building; seven 
daily and numerous weekly newspaper offices ; 
Crosby's Opera House with its brilliant auditorium, 
the finest in the United States ; McVicker's Theatre 
which had just been completely renovated and had 
been open but a few weeks ; Hooley's pretty little 
bijou of an Opera House ; Wood's Museum with its 
large collection of curiosities, and the Dearborn 
Theatre which had been the home of minstrelsy ; 
the great book house of the Western News Com- 
pany, S. C. Griggs & Co. and W. B. Keen & Cooke; 
the First Methodist Church ; St. Mary's (Catholic) ; 
First and Second Presbyterian ; Trinity (Episcopal) ; 
St. Paul's (Universalist) ; and the Swedenborgian 
Church, the Academy of Design, with its fine gal- 
lery of paintings, by American and foreign artists, 
and its splendid collection of casts from the antiques; 
the Chamber of Commerce, only the day before the 
scene of busy life and traffic ; the Telegraph Office ; 
the Court House, with all the valuable city and 
county records; the Post Office and Custom House; 
the Armory, the Jewish Synagogue ; such magnifi- 
cent stone blocks as the Terrace, Armour, Shepherd, 
Honore, McCormick's Merchant's Insurance, Orien- 
tal, iEtna, Birch, Drake, Farwell, Lombard, Stur- 
gess, Stone, Arcade and Hubbard; Crosby's Music 
Hall, Metropolitan Hall, so intimately associated 
with the early history of Chicago, in music, litera- 
ture and art ; Farwell Hall, one of the most elegant 
and spacious auditoriums in the country, and hun- 
dreds of other palatial structures. 



82 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO 



The scene from the Tribune Office. 

The sight from the upper windows of the Tribune 
office ; a few hours before that structure was consumed, 
was one of the wildest and grandest ever seen by 
mortal eye. About one o'clock, a cloud of black 
smoke rose in the southwest, which, colored by the 
lurid glare of the flames, presented a remarkable 
picture. Due west another column of smoke and 
fire rose, while the north was lighted with the flying 
cinders and destructive brands. In ten minutes 
more the whole horizon to the west, as far as could 
be seen from the windows, was a fire cloud with 
flames leaping up along the whole line, just showing 
their heads and subsiding from view like tongues of 
snakes. Five minutes more wrought a change. 
Peal after peal was sounded from the Court House 
bell. The fire was on La Salle street, had swept 
north, and the Chamber of Commerce began to 
belch forth smoke and flame from windows and 
ventilators. The east wing of the Court House was 
alight ; then the west wing ; the tower was blazing 
on the south side, and at two o'clock the whole 
building was in a sheet of flame. The Chamber of 
Commerce burned with a bright steady flame. The 
smoke in front grew denser for a minute or two, 
and then bursting into a blaze from Monroe to 
Madison streets, proclaimed that Farwell Hall and 
the buildings north and south of it were on fire. 
At 2.10 o'clock the Court House tower was a glo- 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 



83 



rious sight. At 2.15 o'clock the tower fell, and in 
two minutes more a crash announced the fall of the 
interior of the building. The windows of the office 
were hot, and the flames gave a light almost dazzling 
in its intensity. It became evident that the whole 
block from Clark to Dearborn, and from Monroe to 
Madison, must go ; that the block from Madison 
to Washington must follow; Portland Block was 
ablaze, while everything from Clark to Dearborn, 
on Washington street, was on fire. At 2.30 the 
fire was half-way down Madison street; the wind 
blew a hurricane ; the firebrands were hurled along 
the ground with incredible force against everything 
that stood in their way. Then the flames shot up 
in the rear of Reynold's block, and the Tribune 
building seemed doomed. An effort was made to 
save the files and other valuables, which were moved 
into the composing room, but the building stood 
like a rock, lashed on both sides by raging waves 
of flame, and it was abandoned. It was a fire proof 
building ; and there were not a few who expected 
to see it stand the shock. The greatest possible 
anxiety was felt for it, as it was the key to the whole 
block, including McVicker's Theatre, and protected 
State street and Wabash and Michigan avenues, 
north of Madison street. When the walls of 
Reynold's block fell, and Cobb's building was no 
more, the prospects of its standing were good. 
Several persons were up-stairs and found it cool 
and pleasant — quite a refreshing haven from the 



84 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO I 

hurricane of smoke, dust and cinders that assailed 
the eyes. 

Meanwhile the fire had swept along northward 
and eastward. The Briggs House, the Sherman 
House, the Tremont House, had fallen in a few 
minutes. The bridges from Wells to Rush street 
were burning; the Northwestern Depot was in a 
blaze, and from Van Buren street on the south, far 
over into the north side, from the river to Dearborn 
street, the whole country was a mass of smoke, 
flames and ruin. It seems as if the city east of 
Dearborn street and to the river would be saved. 
The hope was strengthened when the walls fell of 
Honore's noble block without i<mitin£ that standing 
opposite. The vacant lot to the south seemed to 
protect it, and at 7 o'clock on Monday morning 
the whole of the region designated was considered 
saved, no fire being visible except a smouldering 
fire in the barber's shop under the Tribune office, 
which being confined in brick walls, was not con- 
sidered dangerous. Every effort was made to 
quench it, but the water works had burned, and 
the absence of water, while it announced how far 
north the flames had reached, forbade any hope of 
quenching the fire below. 

A Turning Point. 

There was one remarkable turning point in this 
fire, in which everything was remarkable ; and that 
was at Madison street bridge, where every one ex- 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 85 

pected to see the fire re-cross to the west side, and 
commence upon a new path of destruction. Directly 
across this bridge were the Oriental Flouring Mills, 
which were saved from destruction by the immense 
steam force pump attached to the mill, by which a 
powerful stream of water was thrown upon the ex- 
posed property, hour after hour. This pump un- 
doubtedly saved the West Division from a terrible 
conflagration, for if the Oriental Mills had burned, 
the combustible nature of the adjoining buildings 
and adjacent lumber yards would have insured a 
scene of devastation too heart -sickening for con- 
templation. 

Workings of the Fire. 

The scene presented when the fire was at its height 
in the South Division, is well nigh indescribable. 
The huge stone and brick structures melted before 
the fierceness of the flames as a snow-flake melts 
and disappears in water, and almost as quickly. Six- 
story buildings would take fire and disappear forever 
from sight, in five minutes by the watch. In nearly 
every street the flames would enter at the rears of 
buildings, and appear simultaneously at the fronts. 
For an instant the windows would redden, then great 
billows of fire would belch out, and meeting each 
other, shoot up into the air a vivid, quivering column 
of flame, and poising itself in awful majesty, hurl 
itself bodily several hundred feet and kindle new 
buildings. The intense heat created new currents 



86 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO : 

of air. The general direction of the wind was from 
the southwest. This main current carried the fire 
straight through the city, from southwest to north- 
east, cutting a swath a mile in width, and then, as 
if maddened at missing any of its prey, it would 
turn backward in its frenzy and face the fierce wind, 
mowing one huge field on the west of the north 
division, while in the south division it also doubled 
on its track at the great Union Central Depot, and 
burned half a mile southward in the very teeth of 
the gale — a gale which blew a perfect tornado, and 
in which no vessel could have lived on the lake. The 
flames sometimes made glowing diagonal arches 
across the streets, traversed by whirls of smoke. At 
times, the wind would seize the entire volume of fire 
on the front of one of the large blocks, detach it 
entirely and hurl it in every direction, in fierce masses 
of flame, leaving the building as if it had been un- 
touched — for an instant only, however, for fresh gusts 
would once more wrap them in sheets of fire. The 
whole air was filled with glowing cinders, looking like 
an illuminated snow storm. At times capricious flur- 
ries of the gale would seize these flying messengers of 
destruction and dash them down to the earth, hur- 
rying them over the pavements, with lightning-like 
rapidity, firing everything they touched. Inter- 
spersed among these cinders were larger brands, cov- 
ered with flame, which the wind dashed through 
windows and upon awnings and roofs, kindling new 
fires. Strange, fantastic fires of blue, red and green, 
played along the cornices of the buildings. On the 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 87 

banks of the river, red hot walls fell hissing into the 
water, sending up great columns of spray and ex- 
posing the fierce white furnace of heat, which they 
had enclosed. The huge piles of coal emitted dense 
billows uf smoke which hurried along far above the 
flames below. If the sight was grand and over- 
powering, the sound was no less so. The flames 
crackled, growled and hissed. The lime stone, of 
which many of the buildings were composed, as soon 
as it was exposed to heat flaked oif, the fragments 
flew in every direction, with a noise like that of 
continuous discharges of musketry, Almost every 
instant was added the dull, heavy thud of falling 
walls, which shook the earth. But above all these 
sounds, there was one other which was terribly fas- 
cinating, it was the steady roar of the advancing 
flames — the awful diapason in this carnival of fire. 
It was like nothing so much as the united roar of 
the oceanJtvith the howl of the blast on some stormy, 
rocky coast. 

Of the destructive power of this fire, Hon. Wm. 
B. Ogden, in a letter to a member of his family, 
briefly but very succinctly says : " How it could be 
that buildings, men or anything could encounter and 
withstand the torrent of fire without utter destruc- 
tion, is explained by the fact that the fire was accom- 
panied by the fiercest tornado of wind ever known to 
blow here, and it acted like a perfect blow-pipe, driving 
the brilliant blaze hundreds of feet with so perfect 
a combustion, that it consumed the smoke , and its 
heat was so great that fire proof buildings sunk be- 



88 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

fore it, almost as readily as wood. Nothing but 
earth could withstand it." 

Language can hardly convey to the reader an idea 
of the terrible scenes in the streets. The struggle 
of humanity was more fearful even than the horrors 
of the fire. In the latter there was an element of 
the beautiful, even of the sublime, which continually 
enforced itself, notwithstanding the wide-spread de- 
struction it was causing ; but in the various phases 
developed by this struggling, toiling, and despairing 
tide of humanity in the streets, there was nothing 
which would give pleasure. 

Street Scenes, 

Great calamities always develop latent passions, 
emotions, and traits of character, hitherto concealed. 
In this case, there was a world-wide difference in 
the manner in which men witnessed the destruction 
of all about them. Some were philosophical, even 
merry, and witnessed the loss of their own property 
with a calm shrug of the shoulders, although the 
loss was to bring upon them irretrievable ruin. 
Others clenched their teeth together, and witnessed 
the sight with a sort of grim defiance. Others, who 
were strong men, stood in tears, and some became 
fairly frenzied with excitement, and rushed about 
in an aimless manner, doing exactly what they 
would not have done in their cooler moments, and 
almost too delirious to save their own lives from the 
general wreck. Of course, the utmost disorder and 




BOOKSELLERS' ROW, STATE STREET. 




CLARK STREET, SOUTH FROM WASHINGTON STREET. 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 91 

excitement prevailed, for nearly every one was, in 
some degree, demoralized, and in the absence both 
of gas and water, had given up the entire city to its 
doom. Mobs of men and women rushed wildly 
from street to street, screaming, gesticulating, and 
shouting, crossing each other's paths, and intercept- 
ing each other as if just escaped from a madhouse. 
The yards and sidewalks of Michigan and Wabash 
avenues, for a distance of two miles south of the 
fire limit in the South Division, were choked with 
household goods of every description — the contents 
of hovels, and the contents of aristocratic residences, 
huddled together in inextricable confusion. Elegant 
ladies, who hardly supposed themselves able to lift 
the weight of a pincushion, astonished themselves 
by dragging trunks, and carrying heavy loads of 
pictures and ornamental furniture, for a long dis- 
tance. Some adorned themselves Avith all their 
jewelry, for the purpose of saving it, and struggled 
along through the crowds, perhaps only to lose it 
at the hands of some ruffian. Delicate girls, with 
red eyes and blackened faces, toiled, hour after hour, 
to save household goods. Poor women staggered 
along with their arms full of homely household 
wares, and mattresses on their heads, which some- 
times took fire as they were carrying them. Every 
few steps along the avenues were little piles of 
household property, or, perhaps, only a trunk, 
guarded by children, some of whom were weeping, 
and others laughing and playing. Here was a man 
sitting upon what he had saved, bereft of his senses, 



92 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION CHICAGO: 

looking at the motley throng with staring, vacant 
eyes ; here, a woman, weeping and tearing her hair, 
and calling for her children in utter despair ; here, 
children, hand-in-hand, separated from their parents, 
and crying with the heart-breaking sorrow of child- 
hood ; here, a woman, kneeling on the hot ground, 
and praying, with her crucifix before her. One 
family had saved a coffee-pot and chest of drawers, 
and raking together the falling embers in the street, 
were boiling their coffee as cheerily as if at home. 
Barrels of liquor were rolled into the streets from 
the saloons. The heads were speedily knocked in, 
and men and boys drank to excess, and staggered 
about the streets. Some must have miserably 
perished in the flames, while others wandered away 
into the unburned district, and slept a drunken sleep 
upon the sidewalks and in door-yards. Thieves 
pursued their profession with perfect impunity. 
Lake street and Clark street were rich with treas- 
ure, and hordes of thieves entered the stores, and 
flung out goods to their fellows, who bore them away 
without opposition. Wabash avenue was literally 
choked up with goods of every description. Every 
one who had been forced from the burning portion 
of the division had brought some articles with them, 
and been forced to drop some, or all of them. Valu- 
able oil paintings, books, pet animals, musical 
instruments, toys, mirrors, bedding, and ornamental 
and useful articles of every kind, were tramp ]ed 
under foot by the hurrying crowds. The streets 
leading southward from the fire were jammed with 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 93 

vehicles of every description, all driven along at 
top speed. Not only the goods which were depo- 
sited in the streets took fire, but wagon loads of 
stuff in transit, also kindled, and the drivers were 
obliged to cut the traces to save their animals. 
There was fire overhead, everywhere, not only on 
the low, red clouds, which rolled along the roofs, but 
in the air itself, filled with millions of blazing fag- 
gots, that carried destruction wherever they fell. 
Those who did rescue anything from the burning 
buildings, were obliged to defend it at the risk of 
their lives Expressmen and owners of every de- 
scription of wagons, were extortionate in their de- 
mands, asking from twenty to fifty dollars for con- 
veying a small load a few blocks. Even then there 
was no surety that the goods would reach their 
place of destination, as they were often followed by 
howling crowds, who would snatch the goods from 
the wagons. Sometimes, thieves got possession of 
vehicles, and drove off with rich loads of dry goods, 
jewelry, or merchandise, to out-of-the-way places. 
A mere tithe of the immense treasures piled up in 
these palatial warehouses was saved. 



Character of the Buildings. 

Many of the buildings destroyed were models of 
their kind. Among these was the Tribune office, 
which was probably one of the most complete and 
elegant newspaper establishments in the world. It 
was a four-story stone structure, and having nothing 



94 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

but brick division walls, and corrugated iron ceil- 
ings, was supposed to be fire proof. It was com- 
pleted in April, 1869, at a cost of about $225,000, 
and its contents, including furniture, two of Hoe's 
eight-cylinder presses, boiler and engine, several 
folding machines, and a complete assortment of 
miscellaneous machinery, tools and apparatus 
necessary to carry on a great paper at $100,000 
more. As we have already stated, it stood the 
ordeal bravely, hour after hour, until McVicker's 
Theatre took fire, penetrating its interior with a 
terrible volume of flame, which speedily consumed 
all the wood work and badly cracked and twisted 
the walls. Its honesty and strength of construction, 
however, assured the safety of every safe within its 
walls and partially saved its great presses in the 
basement. 

The Crosby Opera House, had been closed during 
the summer and fall for renovation. Its proprietor 
had expended $80,000 upon it in ornamentation, 
upholstery and frescoing. It was to have been re- 
opened to the public on Monday evening, the 
night after the fire, by the Theodore Thomas 
orchestral troupe, and on Sunday evening, only 
an hour or two before the fire, it was lit up for 
the first time, that its effects might be seen by gas- 
light. It was a gorgeous auditorium and fairly 
dazzling to the eye, and its frescoes were exquisitely 
beautiful. The carpet and upholstery were made 
expressly for it in France, and the bronzes imported 
for it alone cost $5000. Its illumination a few 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 95 

hours later was more brilliant and gorgeous, but 
alas in a few brief minutes the labor of years had 
gone. In addition to the auditorium proper, there 
was connected with the house a cozy little music 
hall, capable of seating about 1500 people, an art 
gallery from which most of the paintings, including 
Bierstadt's great picture of the Yo Semite Valley, 
and Dieffenback's " Christmas Tree," were saved ; 
several artist's studios which were involved in com- 
mon ruin, the art rooms of Mr. Moore, a well known 
connoisseur, filled with pictures, and one of the most 
valuable art libraries in the United States ; the Opera 
House Eestaurant, and the three great music houses 
of Roof & Cady, Bauer & Co., and J. W. Kimball. 
Mr. Crosby at one time had contemplated devoting 
the entire house to business purposes, as being more 
profitable than art, but under the advice of friends, 
changed his intentions, and then set himself about 
the work of making it the handsomest temple of 
music in the country. He had succeeded in it, and 
was just about to throw wide open its doors to the 
public when the fire came ; and on the night when 
its beauty was to be admired, and its dazzling audi- 
torium ring with plaudits, it was a heap of smoulder- 
ing ruins, broken stones, jagged walls and twisted 
iron. 

McVicker's Theatre was probably one of the 
coziest as well as handsomest dramatic establish- 
ments in the country. Like the Opera House it had 
been closed for the summer and entirely remodelled 
and refitted throughout at heavy expense. It had 



96 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

been open but a few weeks, when the fire occurred, 
and was already beginning to repay the management 
for the large sums expended, when the fire came 
and swept it away. Wood's Museum, on Randolph 
street, had a wide-spread reputation, for in addition 
to the theatre proper, it also contained the largest 
department of curiosities in the West, embracing a 
superb ornithological and entomological cabinet, 
choice specimens of minerals, a considerable number 
of paintings, and many live animals, all of whom 
perished. The museum was originally established 
by Col. J. H. Wood, who, after bringing it to a 
remarkable pitch of success, retired, leaving its con- 
trol in the hands of Mr. Frank Aiken, the theatrical 
manager. Its success, however, falling off consid- 
erably, Mr. Aiken had retired from it to take the 
management of Hooley's new Opera House, on 
Clark street, and early in the fall, Col. Wood re- 
sumed possession. He had just reorganized the 
curiosity department, and opened the museum with 
an entirely new company, when the fire closed its 
doors forever. Hooley's Opera House, owned by 
the well known Brooklyn manager, was also one of 
the pleasantest little theatres imaginable. The 
building was originally known as Bryan Hall, and 
for many years had been used for concert purposes, 
and was the scene of some of the sanitary fairs 
during the war. When Mr. Hooley pu chased the 
property, he remodelled the entire interior, changing 
it into a theatre, and like all the others, he had just 
opened it with a new company, and was in the full 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 97 

tide of success. The Dearborn Theatre, on Dear- 
born street was the home of burnt-cork minstrelsy, 
and had no rival in the United States. Indeed, no 
other company in this country ever enjoyed the 
advantage of performing in an elegant and thor- 
oughly appointed theatre. 

Farwell Hall was the home of the Young Men's 
Christian Association. It was a spacious and ele- 
gant auditorium, and probably one of the largest in 
the country, as it was capable of comfortably seating 
3,500 people. Its ornamentations and frescos were 
of the most elaborate kind, and a large and hand- 
some organ had just been placed upon the stage. 
Metropolitan Hall, on Randolph street, was one of 
the oldest in the city. Sixteen years ago, Adelina 
Patti, then a mere child, had sung in it, and for 
many years it was intimately associated with the 
musical progress of Chicago. For some time prior 
to its burning, the hall and other rooms in the 
building had been leased by the Young Men's 
Library x\ssociation, and its destruction involved the 
loss of their library, which numbered about 20,000 
miscellaneous volumes, including a complete set of 
the British patent office reports, the only set in the 
country. 

The loss of the Academy of Design involved a 
terrible blow to art. The gallery had in it about 
three hundred paintings by home and foreign artists. 
Some of the larger ones, including Rothermel's great 
historical painting of the Battle of Gettysburg, were 
saved, but the most of them were lost. Nearly all 



98 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

the prominent artists in the city made the Academy 
their home, and they consequently suffered heavily 
in the destruction of their studios. In the art 
school connected with the Academy was a large 
and valuable collection of casts of the most celebrated 
antiques, which had been presented to the Academy 
by Hon. J. Young Scammon, all of which were lost. 
The building occupied by the Academy of Sciences 
was supposed to be fire proof, but it was utterly 
destroyed, together with the following valuable 
cabinets : — 

" 1. The Audubon Club collection, consisting of 400 
finely-mounted specimens of game birds and mammals. 

11 2. The State collection of insects, recently purchased, 
of great scientific value for the number of types it contained. 

11 3. Cabinet of marine shells, purchased of William 
Cooper, the most complete in the country. 

" 4. The Florida collection, made by Mr. E. W. Blatch- 
ford and the Secretary in two winters, containing a full 
illustration of the zoology of Florida. 

" 5. The cabinet of minerals recently purchased by 
subscription of the estate of Col. G. W. Hughes. 

" 6. Splendid series of specimens illustrative of the 
natural history of Alaska. 

11 1. The Smithsonian collection of Crustacea, undoubtedly 
the largest in the world, which filled over 10,000 jars, and 
contained types of all species described by Prof. Dana and 
other American authors, and hundreds of others, described 
only in manuscripts lost in the fire. 

" 8. The invertebrates of the United States, North Pacific, 
the majority undescribed except in manuscripts destroyed. 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 99 

"9. Collection of Marine shells of the coast of the United 
States, made in twenty years' dredgings from Maine to 
Texas. 

" 10. Herbarium of the late Dr. F. Scammon, consisting 
of 6,000 species of plants, with numerous duplicates. 

" 11. The Scammon collection of ancient Central Ameri- 
can pottery, and other implements, collected by Dr. Van 
Peston. 

" 12. The Arctic collection of the late Robert Kennicott 
from 1859 to 1861 ; one of the most important features of 
the museum. 

"The general collection contained 2,000 mammals, 30 
mounted skeletons, including 2 mastadons, 10,000 birds 
1,000 nests and eggs, 5,000 fishes, 10,000 species of insects 
with other specimens in proportion. 

11 The library contained about 2,000 volumes, chiefly the 
publications of other societies. At the time of the fire the 
academy was in communication with 15 American, and 100 
European institutions. The manuscript department was 
also valuable." 

Of the general character of the business structures 
destroyed, it is only necessary to say that they were 
of the most solid and massive description, and many 
of them exceedingly beautiful in an architectural 
point of view. The entire portion of the South 
Division which was consumed was almost exclu- 
sively built of stone and brick, but even these 
substantial structures offered no apparent resistance 
to the terrific fury of the fire. Indeed the destruc- 
tion of many of the heaviest stone buildings was 
much more rapid than that of wooden buildings, as 



100 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

they had become so thoroughly heated that the 

moment the flames seized upon and swept through 

them, they melted away and disappeared. The 

intensity and ferocity of the fire has never had a 

parallel. It twisted iron into all manner of fanciful 

shapes. In crockery stores, it fused glass and china 

together in beautiful forms, and many sight-seers, 

after the ruins of such stores had cooled, carried away 

as relics, great masses of glass, china, mortar, brick 

and earthen ware, cemented together in the most 

incongruous manner. In some streets it burned 

the blocks of the Nicholson pavement to the earth 

beneath them. It twisted many of the rails of the 

street railroads into perfect U's, which stood inverted 

on the pavement. In such seething masses of 

flames, chasing after each other for twelve hours 

. like billows along a boach, the very Pyramids 

would have yielded had they received the full force 

of the fire. In the entire burned portion of the 

South Division but two buildings were uninjured. 

One was an unfinished stone structure at the corner 

of La Salle and Monroe streets. There was no 

wood work in the building at all, the walls being of 

stone and the partitions and floors of brick. The 

buildings adjoining it were small wooden structures, 

while those opposite to it, though of stone, were 

very shallow, being only about twenty feet in depth 

and fell almost immediately. The second was the 

Lind block, which was comparatively isolated. 

Of the detail of losses in this division it is im- 
possible to speak with any accuracy. It was the very 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 101 

heart of Chicago and it contained the larger part of 
the treasures of the city. In its destruction, every 
newspaper office in the city, both daily and weekly, 
every public library, every place of amusement, 
every bank but one, every first-class hotel with one 
or two exceptions, the two great depots of the city, 
every insurance office, seven churches, every public 
building of any size, the gas works, the post office 
the custom house, the marine hospital, several Roman 
Catholic charitable institutions, the city hall, the 
chamber of commerce, every art gallery, the telegraph 
offices, nearly every lawyer's and physican's office, all 
the best restaurants in the city, two thriving commer- 
cial colleges, thousands of business offices, and all 
the great warehouses of wholesale business, piled to 
their utmost capacity with goods laid in for the fall 
trade, were involved in common ruin. The wreck was 
as complete as the wreck of Pompeii and Hercula- 
neum. 

The Feeling of the People. 

And yet in the face of this universal and crushing 
disaster, when it seemed as if both banks and in- 
surance offices were so crippled that utter bank- 
ruptcy and financial ruin must ensue, the faith and 
undaunted courage of the men who had built Chicago 
never faltered. While yet the fires were blazing all 
about them, there was but one expression of opinion 
and that was that the Garden City must be the 
Phoenix City. On the very next morning after the 
disaster, scarcely a pile of bricks that markc d where 



102 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO : 

a building had stood, but bore a rudely extempor- 
ized sign that Messrs. So and So had removed to No. 



, and would continue their business as hereto- 
fore. The newspapers were the first to resume 
business. On the second day of the fire, the 
Tribune, Post, and Journal appeared as usual, the 
others following as rapidly as they could reorganize. 
The following editorial which appeared in the 
Tribune in its first issue, reflected the universal sen- 
timent of the people : 



"cheer up. 

11 In the midst of a calamity, without parallel in the 
world's history, looking upon the ashes of thirty years' ac- 
cumulations, the people of this once beautiful city have 
resolved that, 

"CHICAGO SHALL RISE AGAIN. 

11 With woe on every hand, with death in many strange 
places, with 2 or 300,000,000 of our hard-earned property 
swept away in a few hours, the hearts of our men and women 
are still brave, and they look into the future with undaunted 
courage. As there has never been such a calamit}', so has 
there never been such cheerful fortitude in the face of deso- 
lation and ruin. 

Thanks to the blessed charity of the good people of the 
United States, we shall not suffer from hunger or nakedness 
in this trying time. Hundreds of train loads of provisions 
are coming forward to us with all speed from every quarter, 
from Maine to Omaha. Some have already arrived, more 
will reach us before these words are printed. Three-fourths 
of our inhabited area is still saved. The water supply will 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 103 

be speedily renewed. Steam fire engines from a dozen 
neighboring cities, have already arrived, and more are on 
their way. It seems impossible that any farther progress 
should be made by the flames, or that any new fire should 
break out that would not be instantly extinguished. 

11 Already contracts have been made for rebuilding some 
of the burned blocks, and the clearing away of the debris 
will begin to day, if the heat is so far subdued that the 
charred material can be handled. Field, Leiter & Co., and 
John V. Farwell & Co., will recommence business to-day. 
The money and securities in the banks are safe. The rail- 
roads are working with all their energies to bring us out of 
our affliction. The 300,000,000 of capital invested in these 
roads is bound to see us through. They have been built 
with special reference to a great commercial mart at this 
place and they cannot fail to sustain us. Chicago must rise 
again. 

11 We do not belittle the calamity that has befallen us. 
The world has probably never seen the like of it — certainly 
not since Moscow was burned. But the forces of nature, no 
less than the forces of reason, require that the exchanges 
of a great region should be conducted here. Ten, twenty 
years may be required to reconstruct our fair city, but the 
capital to rebuild it fire proof will be forthcoming. The 
losses we have suffered must be borne ; but the place, the 
time and the men are here, to commence at the bottom and 
work up again, not at the bottom neither, for we have credit 
in every land and the experience of one upbuilding of Chi- 
cago to help us. Let us all cheer up, save what is left yet, 
and we shall come out right. The Christian world is com- 
ing to our relief. The worst is already over. In a few 
days more all the clangers will be past and we can resume 
the battle of life with Christian faith and Western grit. Let 
us all cheer up 1" 

This was the first public announcement by the 
press, and it had the ring of the true metal in it. 



104 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION— CHICAGO I 

As a matter of public record, we append the first 
proclamation of the Mayor of the city : 

11 Whereas, In the providence of God, to whose will we 
humbly submit, a terrible calamity has befallen our city, 
which demands of us our best efforts for the preservation of 
order and the relief of the suffering : 

" Be it known, That the faith and credit of the City 
of Chicago is hereby pledged for the necessary expenses for 
the relief of the suffering. Public order will be preserved. 
The police and special police now being appointed will be 
responsible for the maintenance of the peace and the pro- 
tection of property. 

" All officers and men of the Fire Department and Health 
Department will act as special policemen without further 
notice. The Mayor and Comptroller will give vouchers for 
all supplies furnished by the different relief committees. 
The head-quarters of the city government will be at the 
Congregational Church, corner of Ann and West Washing- 
ton streets. All persons are warned against any acts tending 
to endanger property. All persons caught in any depreda- 
tions will be immediately arrested. 

" With the help of God, order and peace and private pro- 
perty shall be preserved. The city government and com- 
mittees of citizens pledge themselves to the community to 
protect them and prepare the way for a restoration of public 
and private welfare. 

" It is believed the fire has spent its force and all will soon 
be well. 

R. B. Mason, Mayor." 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 105 



TJie Fire in the North Division. 

At twelve o'clock the fire crossed the south branch 
of the river, and entered the South Division at 
Adams and Franklin streets. Taking a dne course 
to the northeast, it found the Court House and Sher- 
man House in its path. Precisely at twenty minutes 
past two o'clock, the roof of the centre building of 
the Court House fell in, and before that event, and 
about the time that the Sherman House was ablaze, 
the fire, carried by the wind, had fallen upon the 
north side, and broke out just north of the bridge, 
at State street. North of the bridge was a long 
viaduct of wood, erected on trestle work. West of 
this roadway, and near the river, was a long, low 
building, used as a freight depot by the Northwest- 
ern (Galena branch) Railway. To the east was 
Wright's large livery stable, both buildings of brick, 
but of shingle or flat roofs. Farther to the east 
was the Galena elevator, also of wood. The build- 
ings, all within the course of the fire, had been 
ignited by burning brands. To the west and further 
north of the freight depot, were rows of small frame 
buildings, used as cheap boarding houses, all made 
of wood. In the alleys, and in the rear of these 
buildings, were stables, all of wood, dry as tin- 
der, and over all of which the intense heated wind 
had been blowing for hours, and upon which had 
been falling the blazing brands of the fire during its 
previous advance. Simultaneously, the fire blazed 



106 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

up in half a dozen places, within a distance from east 
to west of one hundred and fifty yards. No sooner 
had these been fairly under way, than the ever- 
growing fire from the southwest cast its brands still 
farther on in advance ; and long before the fire in 
the South Division had levelled a path, or was visible 
in a burning house on the south line of the river, 
the fire on the north side had gone six or eight 
blocks through the frame buildings on the north 
side of the river. As the base of the fire on the 
south side of the river widened to the west, it 
crossed the river, to find inflammable materials, all 
prepared to continue it, and at each new crossing it 
formed a new line, which swept on with new fury. 
The work of destruction on the north side was rapid. 
Though the houses were not built so closely to one 
another, yet the proportion of them of wood was 
greater. There was no longer an attempt to stop 
its progress. It was its own director. In one hour 
after its first breaking out it swept onward in an 
unbroken sheet of flame, extending at its base from 
Rush street westward to Clark street, burning in a 
due line to the northwest. It rushed onward, sweep- 
ing everything before it. At half past three o'clock 
the great breweries near the water works were 
ablaze, and soon after, engineers and firemen in the 
water works building, opening the valves, were forced 
to abandon their posts to save their lives. The roof, 
which was of shingles, soon burned, the rafters fell 
in, the machinery was disabled, and Chicago was 
left without a drop of water. The fire, in the mean- 







PALMER HOUSE, COR. STATE AND QUiNCY STREETS 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 109 

time, had extended to the eastern point of the South 
Division, and had burned all on the north side of the 
river (Rathbone's stove warehouse excepted). On 
the east everything had been burned to the lake. 
The wave of fire which had swept the breweries 
and the water works, had expended itself a few 
rods farther in the lake. But new lines were ad- 
vancing on the west flank. The advance of the fire 
was in the order known in military practice as 
echelon, with the right in the advance. As the most 
advanced reached its destination, the next to the 
left moved forward, and as fire was forever widen- 
ing and forming new extensions to the left, it was 
soon obvious that it would leave nothing unde- 
stroyed. 

Persons living north of Chicago avenue and west 
of Clark street, considered themselves as safe, be- 
cause they were out of the line of the wind. But 
each half hour enlarged the sweep of the wind. 
When day dawned upon that awful morning, the 
fire had worked westward along the river to Wells 
street, destroying the large elevator, and the Galena 
Passenger Depot at that point. It rapidly swept 
all before it, each new line of fire going straight 
through to the northeast, until it struck the lake. 
Some fugitives from dwellings destroyed east of 
Clark street, about ^.Ye o'clock, were kindly shel- 
tered by a lady residing on Oak street, near La 
Salle, and she prepared a bountiful breakfast for 
them. By nine o'clock both guests and hostess 
were alike fleeing for their lives before the roaring, 

7 



110 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION" — CHICAGO: 

sweeping stream of fire which pursued them. Thus, 
all day, from morning until midnight of that dread- 
ful day, did the fire rage in that doomed division of 
the city. Twenty-four hours after it started on De- 
koven street, it was igniting fresh fires near the 
northern limits of the city, having in the meantime 
consumed all within its scope for a distance of four 
miles north, in an average belt, seven-eighths of a 
mile wide. 

The north branch of the river shortly after leav- 
ing the main river, diverges to the west, and is locked 
in by the west division, no fire coming from the west, 
a few tenements near the river were saved, but as a 
general thing by 10 o'clock in the forenoon, the fire 
extended from the river on the west to the lake on 
the east, in a line running from the southwest to 
the northeast. In this form it continued to advance 
northwardly, until the west end reached Fullerton 
avenue, which it did not cross west of Orchard street. 
East of Orchard street it destroyed everything to the 
lake, and then during the night, having consumed 
all that there was to consume, it finished its work 
by destroying the dwelling of Dr. J. H. Foster. 
Except some indifferent shanties near the bridges, 
and some scattered dwellings in the northwest 
corner of the Sixteenth Ward, not a dwelling was 
left north of the river, except that of Mr. Ogden. 

The principal buildings in this part of the city 
have been enumerated elsewhere. The width of ter- 
ritory swept in that division was nearly one mile by 
nearly three miles long. The once teeming place is as 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. Ill 

silent as the graveyard. To the east there are some 
fragments of churches and of walls, but these are 
exceptions, — the whole surface being, as a general 
thing, as level as the original prairie. The streets 
were for a large part paved and their grade raised. 
The few bricks left have fallen into the basements, 
the sidewalks have disappeared, leaving to the streets 
the appearance of embankments to permit passage 
through a marshy region, or like the pathways 
through the vats of an extensive tannery. Nothing 
was so desolate — not a sound to break the solitude, 
nor a building to change the wide-spread, blackened 
landscape. The north side was highly ornamented 
with trees, many of them of choice varieties, and 
of many years' growth. All these have been swept 
away, — not even a skeleton of them left. One pecu- 
liarity of the destruction is, that amid all the ruins 
there are no charred or half burned boards or tim- 
bers ; not even in the streets is there anything 
wooden. The fire in its intense heat destroyed every- 
thing combustible, leaving nothing whatever to sur- 
vive it. Even the floors in the basement of the 
largest buildings have been eaten up by the fire, 
leaving not a sign that such things existed. 

The Flight of the People. 

The residents of the North Division had all re- 
tired to sleep long before the fire had assumed any 
serious proportions. When it had crossed into the 
South Division from the west, and thus threatened 



112 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

the centre of the town, the incessant clanging of 
the bells, the gorgeous illumination, the intense heat 
and smoke, and the unfailing shower of brilliant 
sparks, fully aroused them. No one, however, 
stirred. The merchants and bankers crossed to 
their places of business to do what could be done ; 
but when the court house fell, when the massive 
blocks of stone and brick opposed the progress of 
the fire no more successfully than so much straw, 
and when at last the blaze broke out in a half-dozen 
places north of the river, there was a preparation 
for flight. Those within the immediate range of 
the first advancing column of fire fled with such 
hastily gathered articles as they could to the lake 
shore. Those who were fortunate enough to own 
carriages, put their families and valuables in and 
drove off to the north. Wagons and teams were 
gathered and loaded, and furniture and families 
moved to Washington Park. This small park was 
at one time packed with furniture and people of 
every age, including many lifted from beds of 
sickness. In two hours the fire had got to the 
west far enough to include this park in its sweep, 
and then the flight was begun anew. This time all 
the property that had been rescued was left behind, 
so close upon them was the fire, and the weary men, 
women and children on foot took up their precipitate 
march further to the northward ; occasionally they 
would stop to rest ; occasionally some delicate woman 
would faint from exhaustion or anxiety ; occasionally 
some child would fall to the grovmd, unable any 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 113 

longer to walk. But the fire followed close. The 
shower of sparks and blazing fragments never 
ceased to fall upon them. Time and again the 
clothes of the women and children would be on fire, 
and on they had to march, enveloped in a cloud of 
smoke and fire, and followed by the roar of blazing 
buildings and the terrible howling of the gale. 
Thus they were driven from block to block, and 
street to street, until daylight found them on the 
boulevard road along the lake shore, far beyond the 
city limits. 

Those who fled directly to the eastward, to the 
lake beach, passed hardly a less pitiable night. Be- 
hind them was the fire, south of them the lumber 
yards on the beach and pier was ablaze. Hemmed 
in between pier and lumber yard, were many fugi- 
tives, men, women and children, of whom many are 
known to have perished, and it is feared the number 
is very great. Along the beach were judges, mer- 
chants, doctors, workingmen, women and children ; 
among whom, as they lay on the sand, fell the rain 
of fire. The clothing of the women was repeatedly 
on fire, and bundles of rescued articles had to be 
thrown into the lake to extinguish them. The 
scorching heat, the falling fire, the horrible roar, 
the blinding smoke and cinders, the raging thirst, 
and the hot sand, were terrible to endure, and there 
these people remained until the next afternoon 
before they dared turn their faces towards the yet 
blazing but destroyed city behind them. 

Farther to the westward, among the habitations 



114 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

of the poor, the distress was even more terrible. 
Quickly dislodged, the flight was precipitate. Each 
family' had its small corps of helpless children. 
Fathers and mothers struggled against the blinding, 
burning atmosphere, with their little ones, for 
safety. Here and there sidewalks would fall in, 
precipitating all upon them into the vaults beneath. 
It is assumed, that of necessity, many hundreds 
perished in this flight. Exhausted women, sur- 
rounded by their helpless children, would fall upon 
the street, the next moment to be shut out from 
mortal aid by the far-reaching, whirling flames. In 
every case, so high was the wind, the flames of a 
burning building extended across the street, con- 
suming everything within their reach. 

In a district embracing 75,000 people, there were 
necessarily many who were upon beds of sickness. 
These had to be rescued by their immediate friends, 
or perish, and too often, the only immediate friends 
were helpless children. The mind shudders to 
think of what happened to both sick and well. 
Until the day shall come when the ruins of these 
20,000 habitations shall be critically examined, the 
number of those who thus perished — whole families 
— will never be known. 

During that terrible night the wife of one of the 
State officers, he being in another part of the State, 
was in the pangs of labor, when necessity compelled 
her removal. In that perilous state she was con- 
veyed to the house of a friend a mile north, and far 
beyond any supposed reach of the fire. She reached 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 115 

there with her babe born during the removal, but 
three hours later had again to be carried to another 
part of the city to escape the fire which had followed 
her. This was but one of many cases equally dis- 
tressing, though not all so fortunate. Other women 
in the same condition were removed, who did not 
survive the fright. There were numerous cases of 
ladies who trying to escape on foot, were overtaken 
by the pangs of maternity, and upon the street, or 
in front yards, or on doorsteps, became mothers. 
Thus hastily forced by the ever pursuing fire, they 
fled they knew not whither, away from the roaring, 
fiendish storm of fire. Some who had escaped into 
the West Division found shelter in human habita- 
tions, and comparative comfort. But throughout 
the city, in every large group of fugitives, there were 
painful incidents of the effects of the terror pro- 
duced by the flight for life. 

An ex-member of Congress, fled with his family 
out on the north pier. The fire followed him, burn- 
ing the pier and enveloping him in its dense smoke, 
and burning: them with its terrible heat. He re- 
mained until the next afternoon, when there was 
nothing before him but the lake and the skeleton 
frame of the light house, and the fire fifty feet in 
his rear, when hailing a tug boat he got on board 
with his family, and running the risk of destruction, 
steamed up the river between two sheets of fire, and 
landed on the west side of the north branch. It 
was a desperate venture, but rendered necessary to 
avoid the death which was fast approaching him. 



116 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO*. 

To comprehend the horrors of that flight let the 
reader imagine a population of 76,000 men, women 
and children, suddenly driven from their homes, 
hemmed in by a roaring blaze on each side, with a 
far reaching fire impelled by a furious gale in the 
rear; let him imagine these people forcing along in 
a few streets, trying to keep families together, envel- 
oped in clouds of smoke, and covered at every step 
with blazing cinders; the horrors of the exodus 
made more terrible by the wild foray of horses and 
cattle, terrified by the fire, madly running hither 
and thither, kicking and trampling, often in herds 
of a dozen, aimlessly trying to escape and instinct- 
ively following or plunging through the human pro- 
cession. 

This terrible flight of 76,000 people during that 
night and morning, pursued by the relentless fire, 
and often headed off in their march by a building 
fired by a brand from the fire behind. There was 
no shelter, no refuge, no escape, but to push on 
through the narrow streets to the north. The few 
bridges to the northwest were thronged, but soon 
became gorged with broken vehicles, and it was 
almost death to attempt to pass them. Time, in 
fact, did not permit their use ; the fire was in the 
rear, roaring, and sending forward its incessant dis- 
charge of blazing brands, shingles, and fragments 
of timbers. Occasionally, above the roar and din, 
above the shrieks and shouts of the moving mass, 
above the wild neighing and snorting of the fren- 
zied horses and cattle, would be heard the explosions 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 117 

of drug stores, distilleries, warehouses, and the fall 
of stone walls. Then would come the shower of 
fiery projectiles, the horrors of which were often 
aggravated by the pitiable sight of dismembered 
portions of human bodies, the victims of explosions. 
Any one who has witnessed the passage of an army 
of 75,000 men, moving through the streets in perfect 
order, discipline, and with the surroundings of a gala 
show, can get a faint picture of this terrible flight 
of the inhabitants of the North Division, by substi- 
tuting for this army of disciplined soldiery, the same 
number of terrified men, women and children, most 
of them half clothed, bearing their sick, their dying, 
their aged, and their helpless, with the sidewalks on 
fire, the buildings in a blaze in every direction, the 
horrible roar behind, the stifling smoke and cinders, 
and all this fearful procession hastening forward as 
best it could — going no one knew where. When 
one fell it was almost certain death. The ever 
surging crowd could not stop to pick up the 
exhausted or the feeble, but over the fallen bodies 
rushed on — on, away from the monster that was pur- 
suing them. How many thus perished will never 
be known ; but the next day, when the fire was out, 
and the scattered families called their rolls, over two 
thousand children were missing, the most of whom 
were of an age as to exclude all hope of their 
safety by their unaided exertions. The horrors of 
that flight were greatly increased by the fact that 
men and women could not understand that the fire 
was irresistible, and delayed their departure until 



118 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

the flames actually drove them forth. Many sought 
to carry valuables and clothing, but these impedi- 
ments to rapid movement were soon abandoned, 
though in many cases they were held too long, — so 
checking flight, that the blaze which often encircled 
a block of buildings, crossing the street ahead of the 
fugitives, and thus destroyed all escape. 

One wealthy citizen occupied a costly mansion 
erected in the very centre of a block. The square 
was thickly planted with trees and shrubbery, and a 
large portion devoted to conservatories ; the whole 
enclosed with a board fence ten feet high. Time was 
wasted in packing valuables, and when the family 
and servants came out from the building, they found 
the whole fence in flames, the sidewalks on all four 
sides ablaze, and the trees already burning. Thus 
imprisoned within a very wall of fire, with the 
building, stables, and conservatories all on fire, they 
rushed wildly about, with no visible means of escape. 
Rescue from without was impossible. While thus 
reduced to despair, while thus environed by a circuit 
of fire, and the trees over their heads in flames, a sec- 
tion of the wooden fence fell down, but still blazing ; 
beyond it was the wooden sidewalk, eight feet wide, 
also on fire. It was a desperate chance. The old 
and the young made a speedy rush, bounded over 
the fallen blazing fence, jumped upon and over the 
burning sidewalks and thus reached the street, on 
each side of which there was an equal fire. Rush- 
ing with the speed of desperation, men and women 
reached a few blocks north, when were they com- 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 119 

pelled to halt to extinguish the burning garments 
of the women. This was accomplished with great 
difficulty, and with great injury to all. The flight 
was continued, and for twenty-four hours these peo- 
ple wandered on the distant prairie, unable to 
return to the city. 

TIze Intense Heat. 

The most striking peculiarity of the fire was its 
intense, devouring heat. Nothing exposed to it 
escaped. Amid the hundreds of acres left bare, there 
is not to be found a piece of wood of any descrip- 
tion, and unlike most fires, it left nothing half 
burned. The innermost timbers, floorings, doors, 
window sills, were all reached and wholly consumed. 
From the wreck of the many thousand buildings, 
there is not a vestige of timber or charred wood. 
The excavators turn up brick, stone, glass, iron, 
silver, gold, bronze, brass and all other remnants of 
merchandise, household goods and building mater- 
ials, but not a particle of wood. The combustion 
was complete. The fire swept the streets of all the 
ordinary dust and rubbish, consuming it instantly. 
Nothing was left but the incombustible. In repeated 
instances the popular building stone, the Athens 
marble, a free limestone, which when first uncovered 
in the quarry is soft, but rapidly hardens, and which 
was universally used in the city, when broken and 
falling upon the bed of burning coal, was of itself on 
fire — burning as does the ordinary stone in the lime 
kilns. 



120 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION CHICAGO I 

But this does not account for the intense heat. 
Various theories are stated. One is that the blazing 
fire evolved a gas which was carried on before by the 
wind ; that it penetrated and filled all the buildings 
on the line; that the blazing brands reaching these 
buildings, being fanned into flame as soon as they 
touched the roofs or windows, communicated instan- 
taneously with the gas, producing a fire of the great- 
est heat, and general in all parts of the building. 
It is argued that as the gas escaping from an ordinary 
furnace, if economized and again subjected to flame, 
produces a heat far in excess of that proceeding 
from the fuel in its original form, so this gas, 
escaping unconsumed from the fire, when again 
brought in contact with flame in large bodies and 
in comparatively confined rooms, produces not only 
instantaneous combustion, but intense heat. 

Whatever may be the true theory as to the cause 
of the extraordinary heat, the fact is evidenced by 
countless examples of its destructive power. It 
made little or no difference what the material was 
of which the building was built, whether of brick, 
or stone. The effect on all was alike — marble 
structure perishing with hardly less speed than that 
of the frame shed. The First National Bank was 
supposed to be fire proof. It was situated on the 
northeast corner of a block, with north and east 
fronts. On the south it was flanked by a row of 
marble front brick buildings, and the same on the 
west. It had no party walls. It was built after the 
other buildings, with independent walls, on the south 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 121 

and west ; it was protected from the fire and wind 
by its own walls and those of the adjoining buildings. 
In front was a street one hundred feet wide. The 
only result of this double protection was that its 
walls are standing, but the intense heat, borne by 
the eddies of the wind, entered the building on the 
fronts not exposed to the wind ; the furniture and 
window casings were burned, and so great was the 
heat coming from without, that the monster iron 
girders expanded upward, breaking the iron ceilings, 
crashing the exterior walls, and leaving the building 
a wreck and a ruin. Precisely the same effect was 
produced in the Tribune building, also fire proof. 
The furniture in the building, if all collected and 
fired, would not have produced heat enough to 
seriously damage the room in which it was burned ; 
but the intense heat borne into the building seemed 
to so feed the blaze of the burning tables, chairs and 
desks, that the iron girders and ceilings expanded 
upward and downward to such a degree that they 
tore down, shattered, or forced outward into the 
streets, walls that it was supposed nothing short of 
an explosion of the first magnitude could disturb. 

The intensity of the heat may be judged, and the 
thorough combustion of everything wooden may 
be understood, when we state that in the yard of 
one of the large agricultural implement factories, 
was stacked some hundreds of tons of pig iron. 
This iron was two hundred feet from any building. 
To the south of it was the river, one hundred and 
fifty feet wide. No large building but the factory 



122 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

was in the immediate vicinity of the fire. Yet, so 
great was the heat, that this pile of iron melted and 
run, and is now in one large and nearly solid mass. 
The effect of the heat is also shown in the cases 
of the lar^e anchors and cables at the warehouses. 
These cables of every size were kept upon the side- 
walks in huge coils. Since the fire they present a 
most curious appearance, the coils having melted 
each into a solid mass, just preserving enough of its 
original form to show what it had been. Perhaps 
no city of the country used more of the useful 
articles known as hand trucks, than this city. They 
are made of hard wood shafts, fitted into strong 
iron frames, and every store in this city had its full 
supply of them in use. They were actively in use 
during the night in the removal of goods from the 
stores to the wagons, and were abandoned, many of 
them on the sidewalks, and thousands of them have 
been found in the ruins. They are remarkable 
looking skeletons. The two small iron wheels, the 
bands, and all the iron work, are perfect, but not 
a sight of the wood work. A gentleman escaping 
from one of the hotels with his wife, obtained one 
of these trucks, and placing on it two trunks 
hastened to that part of the lake shore occupied by 
the base ball enclosure. This enclosure was merely 
a high fence with wooden benches at one end for 
spectators. He had been there but a few minutes 
when he was certain the fire would reach him, so 
hastily digging a hole, he put the trunks in it, 
covered them with earth and left the trucks ex- 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 12*3 

posed. This was in the middle of the base ball 
diamond, remote from the fence and the seats. 
When he returned next day, the wooden work of 
the truck, which could not have come in contact 
with any fire, was consumed. The intense heat, 
acting on the iron had fired the wooden parts, and 
they were burned. 

There can be no question that the intense heat 
was the result of the gale. The fire once under 
way, the gale gave to it the intensity given to flame 
by the blow pipe. The heat itself thus generated 
would have produced an extensive conflagration, 
had there been no burning faggots. These latter, 
lodging on cornices, roofs, in crevices on wooden 
sidewalks, in yards, on wood piles, were kept alive 
by the wind, forced into flame, and spread the fire 
with rapid speed. Hundreds of persons, who rushed 
from their residences in the North Division to look 
after their stores and warehouses in the South Di- 
vision, on their return found their dwellings in 
flames and their families fugitives. 

The fire left but little of architectural adornment. 
The marble mantels were not only broken, but con- 
sumed. A gentleman visiting the Tribune building 
after the fire, after climbing over broken walls, and 
shaking iron stairs to an upper room, discovered 
one of the carved shields which had ornamented one 
of the marble mantels. Hastily seizing it, intend- 
ing to preserve it as a memento, it crumbled in his 
fingers as so much lime. It had preserved its shape, 
but the substance had been consumed by the furnace 



124 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION CHICAGO: 

heat. The power of the blow pipe in producing 
heat from flame, is well understood, and the most 
rational explanation of the astonishing heat of this 
fire is that the gale operated on the flame as does 
the blow pipe, and before that concentrated heat 
everything combustible was consumed, and all else, 
melted and destroyed. 



Losses and Insuranrr, 

It is impossible, even at this late date, to give the 
details of losses. A close estimate, however, fixes 
the loss at about $200,000,000, divided substanti- 
ally as follows : 

Losses. 

City Corporation, $5,000,000 

Churches, 3,000,000 

Dry Goods, 10,000,000 

Clothing, 5,000,000 

Hardware,. , 4,000,000 

Boots and Shoes, 2,000,000 

Groceries, 10,000,000 

Drugs 8,000,000 

Jewelry, 2,000,000 

Elevators and contents, 3,000,000 

Hats and Caps, 2,000,000 

Shipping, 750,000 

Railroad Corporations, 1,000,000 

Dwellings, 30,000,000 

Stores and Business Blocks, .... 80,000,000 

Offices, 1,000,000 

Opera Houses, and Theatres, .... 2,000,000 

Libraries, paintings and miscellaneous, 31,250,000 

Total, $200,000,000 




UNITY (MR. COLLYER'S) AND NEW ENGLAND CHURCHES. 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 127 



Products. 
The principal losses of products were as follows 

Wheat, 628,900 bush. 

Corn, 394,500 " 

Oats, 234,900 " 

Rye, 115,000 '/ 

Barley, 260,000 " 

Total of grain, 1,634,300 bush. 

Pork, . 6,000 bbls. 

Lard, 4,000 tierces. 

Cut meat 1,500,000 lbs. 

Broomcorn, 2,400 tons. 

Lumber, 50,000,000 ft. 

Coal, 80,000 tons. 



Churches. 

The following is a list of the principal churches 
destroyed, with their estimated value : 

South Side. 

First Presbyterian $200,000 

Universalist, 100,000 

Trinity, (Episcopal,) 150,000 

Swedenborgian, 75,000 



128 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

St. Mary's Church and Mission, (Catholic,) $250,000 

Second Presbyterian, 00,000 

First Methodist Episcopal, 400,000 

Other smaller churches, 250,000 

Farwell Hall, 400,000 



North Side. 

North Church, (Presbyterian,) .... $75,000 

Westminster, (Presbyterian,) .... 15,000 

M. E. Grace Church, 150,000 

Moody's Mission, 125,000 

St. James, (Episcopal,) 150,000 

Two Catholic churches with nunneries, . 300,000 

New England Church, 150,000 

Robert Collyer's Unitarian Church, . . 100,000 

Nearly seventy-five churches, mission schools, 
etc., were destroyed. The New England church, 
one of the most elaborate structures in the city, 
was laid in ruins, as was the home of every mem- 
ber of the church. The First and Second Presby- 
terian churches, the First Universalist, Trinity 
Episcopal and the New Jerusalem churches were 
among the ruins. The Roman Catholics suffered 
greatly, losing as many as seven churches, six con- 
vents, eight schools and two hospitals. 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 129 



Insurance, 

It is still more difficult to ascertain trie insurance 
losses, but trie following list is sufficiently accurate 
as a general statement up to the time of writing : 

Maine, . . . .* $22,500 

Boston, Mass 3,252,500 

Worcester, Mass., ........ 307,500 

Springfield, Mass., 450,000 

Providence, R. I., 1,985,000 

Hartford, 8,500,000 

Connecticut, 735,000 

New York City, 13,476,500 

Brooklyn 935,000 

Buffalo, 1,730,000 

Albany, . ." 1,200,000 

Philadelphia, 1,590,000 

Pittsburgh, '. . 136,500 

Pennsylvania, 870,000 

Baltimore, 309,000 

Cincinnati, 1,241,800 

Cleveland, 1,948,000 

Columbus, • 330,000 

Toledo 10,000 

Michigan, 165,000 

Chicago, 25,000,000 

Illinois 1,000,000 

Wisconsin, 245,000 

St. Louis, 462,500 

San Francisco, 3,100.000 

Foreign, 5,798,000 

Miscellaneous, 187,000 

Total, $74,9S6,800 



130 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION CHICAGO I 

An approximate statement of losses, as furnished 
by companies, exhibits the effect produced upon the 
business by the sudden and overwhelming disaster. 
Superintendent Miller, under date of November 
11th, 1871, gives the particulars relating to the 

JVew York Companies. 

The following New York companies have ceased 
to do business, and gone into liquidation. The 
gross assets of each, as stated in the annual report 
of December 21st last, is given in the absence of 
any present report: 

Gross assets. 
Jan. 1, 1671. 

JEtna, $442,709 

Astor, 405,571 

Atlantic, 548,194 

Beekiuan, 261,851 

Excelsior, 335,124 

Fulton, 359,227 

Irving, 321,745 

Lamar, 548,402 

Lorillard, 1,715,909 

Manhattan, 1,407,788 

Market, 704,684 

North America, . 770,305 

Security, 1,860,333 

Washington, 774,411 

Albany City, 397,646 

Capital 293,766 

Buffalo City, 370,934 

Buffalo Fire Insurance, 473,577 

Western, 580,547 

Yonkers, N. Y., 86^933 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 131 

The following companies sustaining losses are 
continuing in business. 

Total losses by 

Gross assets. Chicago fire. 

Adriatic, $261,500 $8,500 

American, 1,013,393 30,000 

American Exchange, . . 280,887 58,000 

Buffalo, German, . . . . 308,716 5,000 

Citizens, 722,068 35,000 

Columbia, 468,595 3,400 

Commerce, (Albany,) . . 762,000 450,000 

Commerce Fire, (N. Y.,) . 253,865 26,000 

Commercial, 317,451 5,000 

Continental, 2,847,307 1,400,000 

Corn Exchange, .... 359,880 61,000 

Exchange, 207,374 2,500 

Firemen's Fund, . . . . 182,030 32,500 

Firemen's Trust, .... 241,700 5,000 

Germania, ...... 1,135,332 226,500 

Glen's Falls, 554,962 13,000 

Greenwich, 472,070 10,000 

Guardian, 286,984 45,000 

Hanover, 750,000 250,000 

Hoffman, 217,460 30,000 

Home, 4,813,561 2,139,213 

Howard, 894,360 473,110 

Humboldt, 362,786 24,000 

Importers' and Traders', . 308,189 22,500 

International, 1,466,726 546,911 

Jefferson, 447,391 42,500 

Kings County, .... 202,562 31,000 

Lafayette, 224,643 7,500 

Lenox, 247,800 32,000 

Mechanics', 236,356 22,500 

Mechanics' and Traders', . 518,062 37,000 

Mercantile, 292,335 112,000 

Merchants', 463,864 10,000 



132 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

Total losses by 

Gross assets. Chicago the. 

National, $300,000 $37,500 

New York, 389,904 15.000 

Niagara, 1,321,420 225,000 

Pacific,* 451,405 12,500 

Phoenix, . 1,870,076 350,000 

Relief, 323,125 40,000 

Republic, 682,382 208,140 

Resolute, 254,024 109,927 

Sterling, 266,581 7,500 

Williamsburgh City, . . 531,364 60,000 

Other Suspensions. 

The following Rhode Island companies have sus- 
pended : 

Assets, 

Jan. 1. Losses. 

American, $374,964 $400,000 

Atlantic, 326,614 300,000 

Hope, 211,673 150,000 

Providence Washington, . 415,150 550,000 

Roger Williams, .... 278,966 100,000 

The following Connecticut companies have sus- 
pended: 

Assets, 

Jan. 1. Losses. 

Charter Oak, $251,951 $200,000 

Connecticut, 400,000 200,000 

Merchants, 540,096 

North American, .... 456,503 

Putnam, 785,783 

Norwich, ...... 381,730 350,000 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 133 

The following Massachusetts companies have sus- 
pended : 

Gross Assets, 

Jan. 1. Losses. 

Hide and Leather, . . . $419,211 $800,000 

Independent, 646,050 900,000 

New England Mutual, . 1,080,910 700,000 

The following Ohio companies have suspended : 

Losses. 

Alemania of Cleveland, $500,000 

Cleveland, 400,000 

Sun,. . . . , 100,000 

Fourteen Chicago companies were completely 
prostrated. Their entire assests being swept away, 
and not amounting to over 10 per cent, of their 
losses. 



Aggregate Losses, 

249 American companies, and 6 English doing 
fire insurance business in the United States, suffered 
loss. The aggregate loss was as follows : 

249 American companies, .... $82,821,122 
6 English companies, 5,813,000 

Total loss of Insurance Cos., . $88,b34,122 

The aggregate assets of these companies are : 

American companies, $74,930,216 

English companies, 71,949,305 

Total capital, $145,879,521 



134 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

The total loss falling upon only a portion of the 
companies, and upon others only in small sums, has 
crushed out the losing companies, leaving the in- 
sured sufferers to perhaps $50,000,000, on their 
insured property alone. 



TSie Destruction of City Property. 

The following is an estimate of the losses of City 
Property by the fire, made by the Board of Public 
Works: 

City Hall, including furniture, . . . $470,000 

Water works engines, 15,000 

Water works buildings and tools, . . 20,000 . 

Rush street bridge, . 15,000 

State street bridge, 15,000 

Clark street bridge, 13,800 

Wells street bridge, 15,000 

Chicago avenue bridge, 26,100 

Adams street bridge, 37,800 

Tan Buren street bridge, 13,470 

Polk street bridge, 29,450 

Washington street tunnel, 2,000 

La Salle street tunnel, 1,800 

Lamp posts, 25,000 

Lire hydrants, 15,000 

Street pavements, 250,000 

Sidewalks and crossings. 70,000 

Reservoirs, . 15,000 

Docks, 10,000 

_Sewers, 10,000 

Water service, 15,000 

Total, $1,085,080 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 



135 



Sidewalhs Destroyed. 

The extent and value of the sidewalks destroyed 
by the fire has been officially computed. The 
whole length of sidewalks laid on the 8th of Octo- 
ober was 680 miles, of which 121^ miles were 
destroyed. The details of the destroyed work are 
thus stated: 



Lin. feet. 



Cost. 



North Division, stone and 

flag sidewalks, .... 

South Division, stone and 

flag sidewalks, .... 

Plank sidewalks, .... 



10,194 $58,215 



33,050 
599,597 



479,164 
404,000 



Total, 642,841 $941,379 



The Burned Churches. 



Within the past ten years Chicago has won 
an enviable reputation for the number and beauty 
of her churches. The various denominations have 
vied with each other in building superb church 
structures, which have long been the admiration 
of strangers for their architectural beauty and 
admirable adaptation to purposes of worship. The 
fire made no distinction in its destruction. 
Almost every denomination suffered to a large 
extent. 



136 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 



The Protestant Episcopal. 

The Episcopal denomination lost St. James 
Church, one of the most elegant in the city, loss 
$250,000, on which there was a moderate insurance, 
most of which is available; Trinity Church, loss 
$110,000, on which there was $40,000 insurance, 
about half of which is available; the Church of the 
Ascension, loss $15,000, without insurance; and St. 
Ansgarius (Swedish), loss $11,000, the insurance 
upon which is not secure. 



Presbyterian. 

The Presbyterians lost three churches; the First 
Church, loss $80,000, with its two mission school 
buildings, one attached to the church, and the other 
on La Salle street, both valued at $47,000; the 
Second Church, not occupied at the time of the fire, 
the congregation having temporarily united with 
the Olivet Church, until their new building should 
be erected, loss $55,000 ; and the North Presbyte- 
rian, loss $65,000, and its mission school, $8,000. 



Congregational. 

The Congregationalists lost their beautiful New 
England Church and a small mission school. Total 
loss $106,500. 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 



137 



Baptist. 

The Baptists lost property as follows: 

North Church and furniture, . 
North Star Church and furniture, 
Swedish Church and furniture, . . 
Lincoln Park Association Building, 
Publication Society, • . . . . 
Standard stock 



$15,000 

20,000 

7.000 

1,000 

10,000 

25,000 



In addition to the above there were other indirect 
losses in this denomination, which w T ill swell the 
amount to $200,000. 



Methodist. 

The Methodist losses were as follows: 

Grace Church, one of the most beautiful in the city, loss 
$100,000. 

The First Methodist Church and Block, loss $100,000. 

The Wabash avenue Methodist, damaged to the amount 
of $35,000. 

The Scandinavian Methodist, $7,000. 

The German Methodist, $7,500. 

The African Methodist, $8,000. 

The Garrett Biblical Institute property, $00,000. 



Unitarian. 

Unity Church, over which Rev. Robert Collvcr 
presided, was the only Unitarian Church burned in 
the city; loss §225,000. 



138 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO 



Roman Catholic. 

The Koman Catholic denomination suffered more 
severely than any other. The detailed statement 
of the losses is as follows . 

Church of the Holy Name, 196 by 75 feet in dimensions, 
costing $275,000; and residence attached, valued at $5,000. 

St. Mary's Church, at the corner of Madison street and 
Wabash avenue, 110 by 50 feet, costing $40,000. 

Church of the Immaculate Conception, 110 by 50 feet, 
with residence, $25,000. 

St. Michael's Church, 200 by 80 feet, costing $200,000. 

St. Joseph's Church, 130 by 55 feet, $100,000. 

St. Louis' Church, 110 by 40 feet, $10,000. 

St. Paul's Church, 100 by 40 feet, valued at $15,000, with 
a $3,000 residence. 

The following schools, convents and hospitals were also 
destroyed : 

Christian Brothers' Academy, on Yan Buren street, near 
Fourth avenue, cost $80,000. 

St. Francis Xavier's Academy of the Sisters of Mercy, 
with House of Providence, $120,000. 

Holy Name Parish Schools — for girls, $15,000 ; for boys, 
$8,000. 

Immaculate Conception Parish School, $10,000. 

St. Louis' Parish School, $5,000. 

St. Paul's Parish School, $5,000. 

Reclemptionist Convent, $20,000, with parish school for 
accommodating 1,200 children. 

Benedictine Convent, $20,000, with schools costing 
$11,000. 

Alexian Brothers' Hospital, $40,000. 

Orphan As3dum, $30,000. 

House of the Good Shepherd, $80,000. 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 139 

House of Providence, under Sisters of Charity, $4,000. 
The Bishop's palace, corner of Madison and Michigan 
avenues, cost $40,000, exclusive of furniture. 



JJniversalist. 

The Universalists lost but one church, St. Paul's, 
on Wabash avenue, loss $75,000. 

There were in addition to the above, two Jewish 
Synagogues burned, loss $40,000; the North Side 
German Lutheran, loss $30,000, and a few wooden 
churches of the same denomination, which may 
swell this amount to $50,000. Probably about 
twenty-five per cent, of the insurance on the above 
churches can be made available. The gross losses 
may be summed up as follows : 

Episcopalian, $360,000 

Presbyterian, 255,000 

Congregational, 106,500 

Baptist, 78,000 

Methodist, 347,500 

Unitarian, . .* 225,000 

Roman Catholic, 1,161,000 

Universalis^ • . 75,000 

Jewish, .... 40,000 

Lutheran 50,000 



Total, • . . $2,698,000 

This sum represents only the losses on buildings. 
Other losses of some of the denominations, like the 



140 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

Presbyterian for instance, will reach a much larger 
sum. 

The Value of Goods Destroyed. 

The latest estimate of the losses of goods and 
stocks on hand, is the following: 



b' 



Dry Goods, $6,045,000 

Groceries, 2,452,500 

Clothing houses, 1,911,000 

Stationers, blank books, &c, . . . 1,110,000 

Jewellers, watches and clocks, . . . 1,335,000 

Hardware, 1,280,000 

Millinery, 1,100 000 

Hotels, 1,210,000 

Church societies and corporations, . 4,240,000 

City property, 1,005,000 

Railroads, 2,000,000 

Boots and shoes, 975,000 

Drugs, paints and oils, 621,000 

Books, 8C4,000 

Hides and leather, 428,000 

Restaurants, saloons, &c, .... 528,000 

Furniture, . . 510,000 

Music dealers, 775,000 

Hats, caps and furs, . . . . •* . 423,000 

Glassware, crockery, &c, 133,000 

Auctioneers, 306,090 

Tailors and outfitters, 178,000 

Commissions, &c, 128,000 

This does riot give the losses on real estate, lum- 
ber, coal, and many other things ; nor does it pretend 
to state personal losses, accurate information of 
which never can be obtained. It merely gives the 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 141 

proportions, and will probably be found to err very 
little in that regard. 



Ale Bi'ewing Business. 

One of the large branches of business in Chicago 
was the manufacture of ale and lager beer. Large 
sales were made to the South and Southwest. 
With few and minor exceptions, all these establish- 
ments were in the range of the fire. The following 
is a list of those destroyed and their values: 

Lili's Brewing Company, $500,000 

J. A. Hnck, 400,000 

Sand's Brewing Company, ..... 335,000 

Bush & Brand, 250,000 

Buffalo Brewery, 150,000 

Schmid, Katz & Co., 60,000 

Metz & Stage, 80,000 

Doyle Bros. & Co 45,000 

Mloeler Bros., 20,000 

K. G. Schmidt 90,000 

George. Killer 35,000 

Schmidt & Bender, 25,000 

Mitinet & Puopfel, 12,000 

John Behringer, 15,000 

J. Miller 8,000 

William Bowman, 5,000 

George Wagner, 5,000 

Total, $2,025,000 

Little or no valuable insurance was on these 
buildings, nevertheless, the majority of the owners 
have already taken steps to renew their business. 



142 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

One of the Chicago religious papers, in its 
first issue after the fire, said, the "fire also 
fortunately destroyed a large number of breweries 
and saloons." The brewers deny the morality of 
this statement. 

TJie Newspapers. 

The daily newspaper offices were mostly located in 
the same neighborhood. The Tribune, Times and 
Journal were on Dearborn street, in sight of each 
other. The Post, Mail, and Staats Zeitung were in ad- 
joining buildings, on Washington street, near Dear- 
born, and the Republican was on Washington street, 
in the same vicinity. The Tribune and the Times 
owned the buildings in which they were published. 
Thelosses of the several offices may be thus estimated : 

Tribune, on building, partially saved, $150,000 
Presses and other property, . . 80,000 

Times, building, total loss, 50,000 

Presses and other property, . . 15,000 

Journal, presses, &c, including job office, 15,000 

Staats Zeitung, presses, &c, 45,000 

Post, 40,000 

Republican, including job office, . . . 60,000 



Total newspaper property, . $515,000 

The Times' building was a total wreck, but was 
insured. The Tribune building was injured to the 
extent stated, and there was no insurance. The in- 
terruption to the issues of the paper was, under the 




FIELD, LCITER &. CO.'S BUILDING, COR. STATE AND WASHINGTON STREETS 




SHERMAN HOUSE. 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 145 

circumstances, very short. The Journal on Monday 
evening issued from a job office a little sheet, four 
by six inches ; on Tuesday issued a sheet somewhat 
larger, and on Wednesday evening a large sheet. The 
Tribune issued on Wednesday morning as large a sheet 
as the only set of column rules in the city would allow. 
The next day the Post and Mail issued papers, and 
the Republican got out its first number of any kind 
on Sunday. The Times issued its first paper about 
the 18th. 

During the week preceding the fire there had 
been numerous fire alarms, and there was put in 
type, intended for the Sunday issue of the Tribune, 
an editorial discussing the subject of insurance, and 
pointing out the criminality of the mode in which 
insurance companies were taking risks, at ruinous 
rates, spending their receipts in commissions to 
brokers and agents, imperilling honest risks in case 
of fire, and inciting by reckless over insurance in- 
cendiarism and false swearing. This article was 
crowded out on Sunday morning, but was enlarged 
by some references to the fire of Saturday night, 
and was actually printed in the Monday morning's 
paper on the " first side." The second side never 
got to press, and the whole edition was burned up. 
Chicago is now reaping in the bankruptcy of all her 
local companies the fruits of the ruinous policy 
adopted of taking risks at any rate, and for any 
amount on any description of property. 



146 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO*. 



Hie Principal Buildings Destroyed. 

The following is a list of the more prominent 
buildings destroyed. 

Academy of Design, Adams, between State and Dearborn. 

A. H. Miller's building, corner State and Madison. 

Andrew's building, La Salle, between Madison and Monroe. 

Andrews & Otis's building, Clark, bet. Monroe and Adams. 

Arcade buildings, Clark, between Madison and Monroe. 

Berlin block, corner State and Monroe. 

Blake's building, Washington, bet. Fifth avenue and Fraklin. 

Boone block, La Salle, between Washington and Madison. 

Bowen's building, Randolph, bet. Michigan and Wabash ave. 

Bryan block, corner La Salle and Monroe. 

Burch's block, Lake, bet. Wabash avenue and State street. 

Calhoun block, Clark, between Washington and Madison. 

Chamber of Commerce building, corner La Salle and 
Washington. 

Chicago Mutual Life Insurance building, Fifth avenue, 
between Washington and Randolph. 

The Chicago Times building, Dearborn, between Wash- 
ington and Madison. 

City Water Works, corner Chicago avenue and Pine. 

Cobb's block, corner Lake and Wabash avenue. 

Cobb's block, Washington, between Clark and Dearborn. 

Cobb's building, Dearborn, bet. Washington and Madison. 

Commercial building, corner La Salle and Lake. 

Commercial Insurance Company's building, Washington, 
between La Salle and Fifth avenue. 

Court House, Randolph and Washington, between Clark 
and La Salle. 

Crosby's building, State, bet. Randolph and Washington. 

Custom House, corner Dearborn and Monroe. 

De Haven block, Dearborn, between Quincy and Jackson. 

Depository building, Randolph, bet. Clark and La Salle. 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 147 

Dickey's building, corner Dearborn and Lake. 

Dole's building, corner Clark and South Water. 

Drake's block, corner Wabash avenue and Washington. 

Ewing block, North Clark, bet. North Water and Kinzie. 

Exchange Bank building, corner Lake and Clark. 

Flander's block, foot South Water. 

Fry's building, La Salle, bet. Washington and Randolph. 

Fullerton's block, corner Washington and Dearborn. 

Gallup building, corner La Salle and Madison. 

Garrett block, corner Randolph and State. 

Hartford Fire Insurance building, La Salle, between Ran- 
dolph and Lake. 

Holt's building, Washington, bet. La Salle and Fifth ave. 

Honore block, Dearborn, between Monroe and Adams. 

Illinois Central Land Department building, Michigan ave- 
nue, between Lake and South Water. 

Keep's building, Clark, between Madison and Monroe. 

Kent's building, No. 153 Monroe. 

King's block, corner Washington and Dearborn. 

Lakeside building, corner Adams and Clark. 

Larmon block, corner Clark and Washington. 

Lincoln block, corner Lake and Franklin. 

Link's block, corner La Salle and Lake. 

Lloyd's block, corner Randolph and Fifth avenue. 

Lombard block, corner Monroe and Custom House place, 
between Clark and Dearborn. 

Loomis's block, corner Clark and South Water. 

Lumberman's exchange, corner South Water and Franklin. 

McCarthy's building, corner Dearborn and Washington. 

McCarthy's building, corner Clark and Randolph. 

McCormick's block, corner Dearborn and Randolph. 

McCormick's building, corner Michigan ave. and Lake. 

McKee's building, corner Wabash ave. and Randolph. 

Mackin's building, State, between Madison and Monroe. 

Magie's building, corner La Salle and Randolph. 

Major block, corner La Salle and Madison. 

Marine Bank building, corner Lake and La Salle. 



148 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO I 

Mechanics' building, Washington, bet. La Salle and Fifth ave. 

Mercantile building, La Salle, bet. Madison and Washington. 

Merchant's Insurance building, La Salle and Washington. 

Methodist Church block, corner Clark and Washington. 

Metropolitan block, corner Randolph and La Salle. 

Monroe building, corner Clark and Monroe. 

Morrison block, Clark, between Madison and Monroe. 

Morrison building, Clark, bet. Madison and Washington. 

Newbury block, corner Wells and Kinzie. 

Norton block, Nos. 136 and 138 South Water. 

Old Board of Trade buildings, South Water, between La 
Salle and Fifth ave. 

Open Board building, Madison, bet. Clark and La Salle. 

Oriental building, La Salle, bet. Washington and Madison. 

Otis block, corner Madison and La Salle. 

Otis building, corner State and Madison. 

Pacific Hotel, corner Clark and Quincy. 

Pardee's building, corner South Water and Fifth ave. 

Phcenix building, La Salle, bet. Randolph and Washington. 

Pomeroy's building, No. 160 South Water. 

Pope's block, Madison, between Clark and La Salle. 

Portland block, corner Dearborn and Washington. 

Post Office, corner Dearborn and Monroe. 

Post Office building, Dearborn, bet. Madison and Monroe. 

Prairie Farmer building, Monroe, between, Dearborn and 
Clark. 

Purple's block, corner North Clark and Ontario. 

Raymond block, corner State and Madison. 

Republic Life Insurance building, La Salle, between Madi- 
son and Monroe. 

Rej'nold's block, corner Dearborn and Madison. 

Rice's building, T 4 to 81 Dearborn. 

Scammon's building, corner Randolph and Michigan ave. 

Shepard's building, Dearborn, between Monroe and Adams. 

Sherman House block, corner Clark and Randolph. 

Smith & Nixon's block, corner Clark and Washington. 

Speed's building, 125 Dearborn. 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 



149 



Staats Zeitung building, Madison, bet. Dearborn and Clark. 
Steam's building, Washington, bet. La Salle and Fifth ave. 
Steel's block, corner La Salle and and South Water. 
Stone's building, Madison, between Clark and La Salle. 
Taylor's block, corner Franklin and South Water. 
Tribune building, corner Dearborn and Madison. 
Turner's building, corner North State and Kinzie. 
Tyler block, La Salle, between Lake and South Water. 
Uhlic block, North Clark, between Kinzie and Water. 
L T nion building, corner La Salle and Washington. 
Yolk's building, 19*7 Washington. 

Walker's block, Dearborn, between Lake and Randolph. 
Warner's block, 123 and 125 Randolph. 
Washington's block, Clark, bet. Washington and Madison. 
Wheeler's block, corner Clark and South Water. 
Wicker's building, corner State and South Water. 
Wright Brother's building, corner North State and Kinzie. 
Five Public Schools. 



Hotels. 



Palmer House. 




Everett House. 




Sherman House. 




♦ Metropolitan Hotel. 




Tremont House. 




Central House. 




Pacific Hotel. 




Howard House. 




Adams House. 




City Hotel. 




Briggs House. 




Clifton House. 




Mattson House. 




Clarendon House. 




Revere House. 




Orient House. 






Bigelow 


House. 






Churches. 




Episcopal. . . 


. 3 


New England. . . 


1 


Presbjrterian. . . 


. 5 


Congregational. 


1 


Methodist. . . 


. 5 


Catholic 


5 


Unitarian. 


. 2 


Jewish 


3 


Swedenborgian. . 


. 2 


Lutheran 


2 



150 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

Theatres. 

Crosby's Opera House. King's Opera House. 

Mc Ticker's Theatre. Olympic Theatre. 

Hooley's Opera House. German Haus. 

Dearborn Theatre. Turner Hall. 
"Wood's Museum. 

Banks. 

Chicago Clearing House Association, 82 Dearborn street. 

City National Bank, 156 Washington street. 

Commercial National Bank, 55 Dearborn street. 

Commercial Loan Company, 44 North Clark street. 

Cook County National Bank, Uonore block, corner Dear- 
born and Monroe streets. 

Corn Exchange Nat. Bank, room 2 Chamber of Commerce. 

Fifth National Bank, northeast corner Clark and Dearborn. 

First National Bank, southwest cor. State and Washington. 

Fourth National Bank, southeast corner Dearborn and 
Washington streets. 

Germania Bank, 40 South Clark street. 

Hibernian Banking Association, southwest corner Clark 
and Lake streets. 

Illinois Mutual Trust Com. 147 and 149 Randolph street. 

Manufacturers' National Bank, northwest corner Dearborn 
and Washington streets. 

Marine Company of Chicago, 156 Lake, northeast corner 
La Salle street. 

Mechanics' National Bank, 154 Lake street. 

Merchants' National Bank, 108 La Salle street. 

National Bank of Commerce, 87 Dearborn street. 

National Bank of Illinois, 95 Washington street. 

Northwestern National Bank, 1 Chamber of Commerce. 

Prairie State Loan and Trust Company, northwest corner 
Randolph and Jefferson streets. 

Real Estate Loan and Trust Company, 105 and 107 Mon- 
roe street, Lombard block. 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 151 

Second National Bank, corner Lake and Clark streets. 
Traders' National Bank, 44 Clark street. 
Third National Bank, cor. Randolph and Dearborn streets. 
Union Insurance and Trust Company, 133 Dearborn street. 
Union National Bank, southwest corner La Saile and 

Washington streets. 
J. R. Valentine & Co. 



Savings Banks. 

Chicago Savings Institution and Trust Company, basement 
southwest corner State and Washington streets. 

Com. Loan Company, No. 60 North Clark street. 

German Savings Bank, Nos. 34 and 36 La Salle street. 

Hibernian Saving Bank Associations Savings Bank, south- 
west corner Clark and Lake streets. 

International Mutual Trust Company, 135 La Salle street. 

Marine Company of Chicago, No. 156 Lake street. 

Merchants' Farmers' and Mechanics' Savings Bank, No. 13 
Clark street. 

Merchants' Saving Loan and Trust Company, southwest 
corner Lake and Dearborn streets. 

National Loan and Trust Company, 92 La Salle street. 

Real Estate, Loan and Trust Company, next west of the 
Post Office. 

State Savings Institution, 82 and 84 La Salle street. 

Union Insurance and Trust Company, 133 Dearborn street. 

Railway Stations. 

Michigan Central and Great Western of Canada, Union 

Depot. 
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern. 
Illinois Central. 
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy. 
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific 
Chicago & Northwestern (Galena division.) 



152 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 



Losses in Literature, Art, Music, and the Drama. 

The loss to Chicago in places of public amuse- 
ment, libraries and art galleries it is almost impos- 
sible to calculate. It could only be accomplished 
by personal reports from every one of the thousands 
of sufferers who were driven from their homes in 
the South and North Divisions. An approximate 
idea, however, may be formed, when it is considered 
that nearly 30,000 houses were burned, and that 
many of them on the avenues of the South Division 
and on the Lake front of the North Division, were 
among the most elegant in the city, and occupied 
by citizens whose wealth and culture had combined 
in the accumulation of rare treasures of literature 
and art. 

The chief places of amusement destroyed in the 
city, were Crosby's Opera House, Hooley's Opera 
House, the Dearborn Theatre, McVicker's Theatre, 
and Wood's Museum. The last four had just been 
refitted and re-ornamented and opened for the regu- 
lar fall and winter season, while Crosby's Opera 
House was to have been opened on Monday evening, 
October 9th, the second night after the fire, by the 
well known Thomas Orchestral Combination. During 
the winter of 1870, Mr. Crosby had hesitated for some 
time whether to continue in the amusement business, 
and had even employed his architect to draw plans 
for changing the auditorium into commercial offices. 
The persuasion of friends, however, and the brilliant 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 153 

operatic and otherwise musical prospects for the 
season of 1871-72 induced him to abandon the idea. 
Early in the summer the house was closed and the 
work of adornment commenced. Eighty thousand 
dollars were expended in seating, upholstery, fresco 
work, painting and gilding, superb bronzes, luxurious 
carpets and costly mirrors. It was finished on Sat- 
urday, October 7th, and when on Sunday evening, 
October 8th, only an hour or two before the fire, the 
house was lit up that its effect might be seen under 
gas light, not one of the few who were present but 
pronounced it to be the most gorgeous auditorium 
in America. A few hours after when Theodore 
Thomas and his orchestra arrived, a pile of smoking 
ruins was all that was left of this beautiful temple 
of art. It was formally dedicated to music in April, 
1865, and during the six years of its existence had 
been the locus in quo of some of the most memorable 
seasons of English, French, German and Italian 
opera, Chicago ever enjoyed. 

McVicker's Theatre had also been not only orna- 
mented anew, but completely re-modelled. Nothing 
remained of the old theatre but the outside walls, 
and these were raised an additional story by means 
of a lofty Mansard roof. The entire interior of the 
theatre was removed and a new one substituted 
upon an entirely different model. It had been in 
operation but a few weeks when the fire occurred, 
having opened to stock business in the most suc- 
cessful manner. Mr. Jefferson (Rip Van Winkle) 
was to have commenced a season, October 9th, and 



154 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

■ 

like Mr. Thomas arrived in Chicago just in time to 
witness the destruction of the theatre. 

Hooley's Opera House was constructed a little 
more than a year ago, by remodelling Bryan Hall, 
one of the old concert halls of the city. During 
the first year of its existence it was devoted to burnt 
cork minstrelsy. During the summer of 1871, the 
house was refitted, the stage enlarged and thoroughly 
equipped, and in September it was regularly 
opened as a comedy theatre, under the management 
of Mr. Frank Aiken, who a month or two later 
associated with himself Mr. Frank Lawlor, and 
leased the building for five years. It had been in 
operation but a few weeks, when the fire swept it 
away. 

Unlike Hooley's Opera House, the Dearborn 
Theatre first opened as a dramatic house, under the 
management of Mr. Frank Aiken, who after a few 
months took the management of Wood's Museum. 
The Dearborn then changed colors and was, up tc 
the time of its destruction, known as the Home of 
the Dearborn Minstrels, under the management of 
Messrs. Brand and Van Fleet. 

Wood's Museum, which combined the attractions 
of a theatrical stage and curiosity department, 
was one of the old established institutions of the 
city. During its long existence, it had met with 
many vicissitudes, and was rapidly going from worse 
to worse, under different managers, when Col. Wood, 
who for many years had been associated with Mr. 
B:\rnum, assumed the management and made it a 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 158 

success. Two or three years ago, however, he re- 
tired and Mr. Aiken stepped in. It did not succeed 
under his management, and last summer Col. Wood 
once more was prevailed upon to try his fortune with 
it. He completely refitted it, enlarged the curiosity 
department, and had just opened with an entirely 
new theatrical company, under the management of 
Mr. J. S. Langrishe, when it was burned. 

In addition to these regular places of amusement, 
the following public halls were burned: Farwell 
Hall, one of the most elegant in the country, the 
home of the Young Men's Christian Association, 
capable of seating 3,200 people ; Metropolitan Hall, 
used mostly for lectures ; Crosby's Music Hall, ad- 
joining the Opera House; Uhlich Hall, occupied by 
the Germania Msennerchor; North Market Hall, 
occupied by the Concordia Msennerchor ; Turner. 
Hall, erected by the North Division Turn-Vereins ; 
and the German Hail, the home of German 
drama. 

The principal public galleries of paintings were 
three in number, viz. : the Opera House, Academy 
of Design and Historical Society's collections. The 
paintings in the Opera House Gallery had remained 
without any important changes, as they were at the 
last annual reception, in the winter of 1810. The 
most noted picture of the gallery was Bierstadt's 
" Yo Semite Valley." Nearly every picture in the 
collection was saved through the energy of the super- 
intendent, Mr. Aitken. 

The managers of the Academy of Design were 



156 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO*. 

not so fortunate. The gallery was a large one, 
containing some two hundred and fifty or three 
hundred works by the best American artists. 
Kothermel's historical work, " The Battle of Gettys- 
burg," and some pictures by Bierstadt and the Harts 
were saved, but the greater number were lost, as 
the artists, many of whom had studios in the build- 
ing, had no means of removing them. In addition 
to the paintings, the splendid collection of casts 
from the most celebrated antiques, which were in 
the antique school connected with the Academy, 
were also lost. 

The collection at the rooms of the Historical 
Society was known as the Healey Gallery, and with 
the exception of an original Conture (" The Prodi- 
gal Son ") were painted by Mr. G. P. A. Healey, the 
eminent portrait painter, now in Rome. Among 
them were portraits from life, of Daniel Web- 
ster replying to Hayne, Clay, Calhoun, Buchanan, 
Pierce, Louis Phillippe, Marshal Soult (a copy), 
Miss Sneyd, the famous English belle, and many of 
the founders and officers of the society. 

In the destruction of private libraries, the losses 
were very severe. Horace White, Esq., the editor 
of the Chicago Tribune, lost a valuable political and 
classical library. Hon. J. N. Arnold, and Messrs. 
Perry Smith, George L. Dunlap, Obadiah Jackson, 
J. T. Jewett, and other residents of the North 
Division, lost valuable miscellaneous libraries. E. 
B. McCagy lost one of the most valuable philologi- 
cal libraries, and J. Y. Scammon, one of the most 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 157 

extensive Swedenborgian libraries in the United 
States. R. M. Moore, a widely known art con- 
noisseur, lost one of the most elegant art libraries in 
the country. Fifteen or twenty clergymen were 
burned out, and their libraries were in most cases a 
total loss. The Sanitary Department has a list of 
nearly 200 physicians who were burned out. Many, 
if not all of these, lost their offices, instruments and 
books ; and at least five hundred lawyers lost their 
libraries also. It is probably a fair estimate to set 
the loss of theological, medical and law libraries 
alone at $500,000, while the accumulations in the 
book stores would swell this amount into millions. 

The Young Men's Association Library numbered 
20,000 volumes, including a complete set of the 
British Patent Office Reports, the only one in the 
country. The library of the Historical Society was 
one of great historical value and embraced 50,000 
bound volumes; 145,000 pamphlets; a large col- 
lection of manuscripts and several complete news- 
paper files. The library of the Academy of Science 
numbered 5,000 volumes, devoted to the specialties 
of that institution. The Young Men's Christian 
Association, during the past two or three years, had 
accumulated 10,000 volumes, mostly of a theological 
character. The Union Catholic Library, although 
commenced quite recently, numbered 5,000 volumes, 
mostly of a sectarian character. The Franklin 
Library, which pertained to "the art preservative 
of arts," was organized two or three years since by 
a printer, and had already reached the handsome 



158 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO. 

number of 3,000 volumes, many of which were 
exceedingly old and rare. Placing the libraries 
of smaller Associations at 10,000 volumes, we have 
in all a loss of over 100,000 volumes in the public 
libraries. It may be considered absurd to attempt 
to form an estimate of the number of books de- 
stroyed by the fire, but estimating moderately, we 
are inclined to think that it will reach between two 
and three millions — a literary holocaust, compared 
with which the destruction of the Alexandrinian 
and Strasburg libraries seem insignificant. 

The following is a complete list of the news- 
papers and periodicals which were burned out: 
Art Review, the Augi:stana, Bouquet, Programme, 
the Lorgnette, Chicago Advertiser, Board of Trade 
Report, Chicago Collector, Commercial Bulletin, 
Commercial Express, Chicago Democrat, Dry Goods 
Price List, Evening Journal, Mail, Evening Post, 
Home Journal, Happy Hours, Journal of Com- 
merce, Legal News, Homeopathic Magazine, Med- 
ical Times, the Lens, Microscopical Journal, the 
Schoolmaster, Railway Review, Railway Gazette, 
Republican, Chicago Union, Chicago Cynosure, the 
Progress, Commercial Report and Market Review, 
Congregational Review, Chicago Magazine of 
Fashion, Die Freie Presse, Evening Lamp, Every- 
body's Paper, the Present Age, the Fremad, Gamla- 
och Nya, Gem of the West, Soldier's Friend, Heav- 
enly Tidings, Home Circle and Temperance Oracle, 
Little Corporal, Staats Zeitung, Volk's Zeitung, 
the Amerikanische Farmer, Lakeside Monthly, Life 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 159 

Boat, Lyceum Banner, Manford's Magazine, Mis- 
sionaries National Prohibitionist, National Sunday 
School Teacher, Song Festival, Song Messenger, 
Lyon and Healey's Musical Journal, Northwestern 
Christian Advocate, the Choir, Northwestern Re- 
view, the Bureau, the Examiner, Nya Veriden, Our 
Boys, Present Age, Real Estate and Building Jour- 
nal, American Builder, the Arts, the Bright Side, 
the Catholic Weekly, Chicago Weekly, Chicago 
Ledger, Chicago Mercantile Journal, Chicago Times, 
Chicago Tribune, the Chronicle, the Detector, the 
Family Circle, the Herald, the Independent, the 
Interior, the New Covenant, the Land Owner, the 
Landewerth and Hausfreund, the Mechanic and 
Inventor, the National, the Prairie Farmer, the 
People's Weekly, the Reporter, the Restitution, the 
Spectator, the Standard, the Sunday School Helper, 
the Workingman's Advocate, the Young Messenger, 
Western Catholic, Western Railway Guide, Rand 
and McNally's Railway Guide, Western Rural, 
Young Folk's Rural, Young Pilot and Little Men, 
the i\.dvance, Bryant and Chase's Commercial Col- 
lege Paper, and Author's Sketch Books. Total 107. 

The Florists. 

There was one business in Chicago which was 
utterly burned out, and not a store left in the 
city. It was that of the florists who were located 
as follows: Dr. Farrell in the Tribune buildin*; 
Desmond and McCormack on Dearborn street; 



160 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

Gordon Brothers, on Washington street ; Charles 
Reisig, on Washington street ; Samuel Muir, on 
Lake street; Edgar Sanders, on Dearborn street; 
Krick Bros., Miller and Sons, Pettigrew and Reid, 
in the North Division. In curious coincidence, the 
seed stores of Hovey, Emerson and Stafford, P. S. 
Meserole, Carpenter and Johnson, the Chicago Seed 
Co., and Fogg and Son, embracing every seed store 
in the city were also consumed. 



Statement by the Fire Marshal of Clxicago. 

On the 14th of November a reporter of the Chi- 
cago Tribune ^interviewed" the Fire Marshal of 
Chicago, when the following conversation took place 
between them: 

Reporter. I desire you to give me a statement 
in regard to the fire — its progress from the time it 
commenced until you ceased your attempts to sub- 
due it. 

Marshal Williams. I had been to Box No. 28 
— I cannot tell the exact time. I was just crossing 
Franklin street, going to my house, when that alarm 
came in. While returning from 28 I told my driver 
that we were going to have a "burn," as I felt it in 
my bones, and I said to him, " I am going to bed so 
as to get some sleep." I went to bed, and was asleep 
when my gong struck; that was between half-past 
9 and 10 o'clock. When I got to the fire I should 
think there were some six or seven buildings ablaze 




DRAKE AND FARWELL BLOCK, WABASH AVENUE. 




ILLINOIS AND MICHIGAN CENTRAL RAILROAD DEPOT 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 163 

— sheds and outhouses. We got it under control, 
and it would not have gone a foot further, but the 
next thing I knew they came and told me St. Paul's 
Church, about two squares north, was on tire. I 
told George Raw, foreman of Hook and Ladder 2, 
to put his longest ladder on the truck and go to the 
church, because I knew the wind was blowing so 
hard that we couldn't raise a stream high enough 
to strike the roof. The citizens got hold of the 
ladder, threw it down, and broke it into two pieces. 
I was on the north side of the fire then, and I went 
up to the church. When I got there I asked Raw 
where the ladder was, and he said the citizens had 
broken it. We surrounded the church fire — I had 
three engines working on it; the Rehm stood on 
the corner of Clinton and Mather streets, working 
that plug, and it was so hot there that the engineer 
had to put up a door to protect himself. The Gund 
was on the east side of the church, and the Coventry 
on the north. We got it checked; it was not gain- 
ing any headway; the church had fallen in. There 
was a drug store on the opposite side of the street — 
on the northwest corner, and a row of buildings 
north of it, and these caught fire several times. We 
held the fire at bay, and the next thing I knew the 
fire was in Bateham's planing mill. When I got 
there, I found that the match factory between Bate- 
ham's and Clinton street was going, as was the 
lumber in a yard near by, just north of it. We got 
two streams in there, but couldn't do any good, as 

the fire was thick and heavv, and ran along to 

10 



164 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CniCAGO : 

another lumber yard north, and spread east to the 
old red mill. I went north then to head it off, and 
found it was down to Harrison street. Commis- 
sioner Chadwick came to me and said: "Don't you 
know the fire is ahead of your' I told him, it was 
getting ahead of me in spite of all I could do; it 
was just driving me right along. I got down to 
Van Buren street and was working the engines 
there, but it was so hot that the men were obliged 
to run for their lives, leaving their hose on the 
ground. They came to me and asked, what they 
were to do about hose, and 1 said: "God only 
knows." 
'Reporter. Hadn't you any hose in reserve? 
Williams. Not a foot. Every foot of available 
hose was in use. The statement that several thousand 
feet of hose was burned in the Armory is not true. 
After the Burlington warehouse fire every foot of 
it was taken out of there and put in service. When 
the fire was raging on both sides of Canal street, and 
among the furniture that was piled up in the street 
— mattresses, bureaus, tables, chairs, and everything 
of that nature had been piled upon the east side of 
the street, and helped amazingly to set the buildings 
on that side of the street on fire — several of the en- 
gines were obliged to pull up and leave their hose. The 
foremen came to me and asked for hose, and I told 
them I had none to give them, and the steamers 
were entirely useless, We got the Gund, located 
on the corner of Van Buren and Canal streets, and 
led her hose up Van Buren street into an alley 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 165 

running south, and tried to cut off the fire in the 
rear of the corner building, because I knew, if it 
came through that building the long row on the 
north side of the street was sure to go, and it would 
be hot around there. The flames rolled over the 
men who were with the engine on the corner, and 
I told the foreman to get her out or we would lose 
her. I asked some citizens for help, and we ran up 
to uncouple the section from the plug, and others 
commenced to uncouple the hose, and I thought if 
we got the engine away, we would lose the hose. 
Just then a wave of flame came rolling over the 
street, and I was obliged to get away. Hose was 
afterwards attached to the axle of the Gund, and 
the citizens pulled her into the sidewalk, where she 
was burned up. When I got on to Canal street, I 
met Alec McGonegal, foreman of the Long John, 
and he told me, there was a fire on the south side. 
I told him to go for it, and I jumped on a hose cart 
and went over too. I was satisfied that the fire on 
the west side could not burn any further north, 
because of the space left by Saturday night's fire, 
and that the wind would prevent it from going west. 
I thought, if the fire had reached the south side, I 
must go and look after it. 

Reporter. Where were the Assistant Engineers'? 

Williams. Where they were, I could not tell at 
that time. I had been falling back before the fire, 
and I didn't know where anybody was. When I 
reached the south side — 1 went across Madison 
street bridge — the Long John was ahead of me. I 



166 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

went south on Market street, and when I got to 
Monroe street, I found that the gas works were on 
fire. I took a look around, and saw that the Ar- 
mory and the block up to Wells street was going 
fast. We formed a line, and had two steamers 
fighting the fire on Monroe street, and keeping it 
from getting into the express barn near Wells street, 
and another building west. We played on those 
buildings and kept the fire from spreading west. 
The Economy's stream was in the block between 
Monroe and Adams streets, and the men were afraid 
the gas reservoir would explode and blow every- 
thing to pieces. I took a view of the property, and 
saw it was bound to go, despite our efforts. I ran 
out of the yard and went over to Monroe street 
again and got another steamer to work. It was of 
no use; the fire jumped over our heads and ignited 
some of the frame buildings in the rear of those 
fronting on Madison street. I knew, there was no 
use remaining where we were, so I ordered the fore- 
men to take up. When I reached Madison street. 
I found that there was fire in the rear of the Oriental 
Building, in the centre of the block. Prescott's row, 
on the north side of the street, was not touched; the 
fire was all in the rear, among the shanties and 
barns. I got the Eccnomy to work on the corner 
of Washington and La Salle streets, and led the hose 
in through the stairway opposite. We were not in 
there three minutes before a sheet of flame rolled 
over us and the boys dropped the pipe and ran for 
their lives. The wind was blowing so heavy at the 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 167 

time that the water would not go ten feet from the 
nozzle of the pipe. We could not strike a second 
story window. When we came through the stair- 
way on La Salle street, the Court House was on fire, 
and the next thing the Board of Trade was ablaze. 
At this place I learned that Alderman Hildreth was 
around with powder to blow up buildings. He came 
to me and said, "We have got to let everything go, 
and begin to blow up. Where will we make a 
start ? " I said, " I don't know, for the fire is going 
so fast, we can't have time to make a start and know 
that everybody is out of the buildings." I said if 
we did anything then, we had better take the corner 
building — the southwest corner of La Salle and 
Washington streets. I told him to be sure to get 
all the people out, as there were many in it then. I 
then went to work and got my two engines to play 
on the Sherman House to keep it from burning, I 
thought we would be able to save it on account of 
the open space opposite. But, my God ! there was 
a piece of board six feet long that came over and 
landed right on top of the Tribune building on 
Clark street, and it was not two minutes before that 
row was on fire. The flames went from there into 
Wood's Museum, and from there it went in all 
directions. A fire then started in the rear of the 
Sherman House among those stables, and away 
everything went. I couldn't tell how it did go. It 
went whichever way it pleased. Miller'^ jewelry 
store was set on fire by the awnings in front of the 
windows; they were regular bags to catch sparks. 



168 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

From there the fire went as it pleased. The Fire 
Department got separated; some went east, others 
west, and others sonth. Where Hildreth did the 
blowing up, I don't know. I heard that he tried to 
blow up Nixon's building, but don't know whether 
he did or not. AVhile I was wetting down the front 
of the Sherman House, and was doing well, I was 
told that the Water Works were on fire. I jumped 
intp my wagon and drove over to see if it was true, 
and when I got near there I saw that the roof was 
all on fire, and burning rapidly, and the flames roll- 
ing out of every opening of the building. I made 
up my mind then that the whole city was gone. 
There was no possible chance for the north side, 
any more than there was for the south. 

Reporter. Do you know what took place on the 
southern line of the fire? 

Williams. No; I had my hands full where I 
was, so that I could not tell what happened there. 

Reporter. Did you see any of the Assistant 
Engineers'? 

Williams. I did not see Schank, the First As- 
sistant, during the whole fire. I do not know where 
he was, but he was around somewhere. I saw Wal- 
ters on the west side and again in front of the 
long John's house. Brenner was on the south line 
of the fire, and can tell you about that. 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 169 



Statement of Mr. Brenner. 

Matt Brenner, the Third Assistant Marshal, was 
also interviewed, and, after giving an account of his 
adventures on the west side, which consisted of 
ordering pipemen in fcere and pipemen in there to 
save buildings, and prevent the spreading of the 
flames south detailed his experience on the south 
side He and the men under his command had 
worked hard on the west side, and kept the build- 
ings south of the southern line of the fire damp as 
long as the water lasted. Everything was con- 
sidered safe, when he was told that there was fire 
on the south side. He left one engine on the 
corner of Taylor and Canal streets, and ordered the 
others over to the south side. Two got over all 
right, but the third was detained for nearly an hour, 
by a train of cars standing across Twelfth street. 
When he reached the corner of Harrison and Clark 
streets, he found the T. B. Brown at work. A row 
of buildings on the northeast corner had just caught 
fire, and he ordered the pipemen to lead the hose 
into the rear of them. Water at this time was very 
scarce, there being hardly enough for a "decent 
stream." Two leads of hose were put on, but before 
water. could be got into the second lead the Jewish 
Synagogue, on the corner of Harrison street and 
Fourth avenue, ignited. An effort was made to pull 
the plaster off, so that throwing water in the build- 
ing would do some good, but the ceiling was so 



170 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

high, it could not be done. The fire eat its way 
east very fast, omitting to gut a block or a building 
at intervals; and Brenner meeting Schank, the First 
Assistant, left him in charge there, and went after 
the fire. He went over to Wabash avenue and 
found the Rice and another engine forming a line 
to take water from the basin at the foot of Van 
Buren street. The hose was not long enough to 
reach the buildings on fire, which were on the west 
side of State street. It soon became so hot that the 
men were driven away from where they were sta- 
tioned, and the flames came so near the Rice that 
she had to be moved. Her withdrawal broke the 
"line," and no more water could be obtained. A lot 
of hose was also lost, the occupants of the dwellings 
on "Wabash avenue having piled their household 
goods on it, and these catching fire it was burned 
up. After this Brenner went over to Michigan 
avenue, and there saw two young men in a wagon, 
which was filled with powder in kegs. One of them 
asked him where he wanted the powder, and he told 
him to go south to Harrison street, and wait until 
he came up. He subsequently went after the pow- 
der, but could not find the wagon. He then went 
to the corner of Harrison street and Wabash avenue, 
and heard "a blow up." He looked around, and 
presently found Aid. Hildreth and several others, 
who were about to blow up a brick building on 
Harrison street, near the church. A keg of powder 
was put into the basement, but it only shattered the 
house. Some parties then suggested that the church 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 171 

be blown up, and it was sometime before they could 
be convinced of the uselessness of it, as the church 
was strong and well built, and able to stop the fire. 
Several brick buildings on Wabash avenue were 
also blown up, and this checked the spread of the 
flames. In the afternoon it became evident that 
the fire would not go further south, and everything 
being considered safe, Brenner went home. He did 
not learn until the next day that the fire had spread 
over the north side, and was surprised when told 
such was the case. 

The Patrol Duties. 

For several nights after the fire, citizens organized 
themselves into patrol parties and watched their 
property. Several very humorous episodes occurred 
during these night watches. 

A great rush was made by the poor for passes 
out of the city on Wednesday. Among one of the 
most persevering applicants was an unlucky Ger- 
man. After two days' patient but unsuccessful 
waiting, without a roof to shelter him and utterly 
friendless, he was left at night to wand-r through 
the streets. "His loitering pace aroused the suspi- 
cions of one of those Argus-eyed "patrols" whose 
uneasily-worn honors gave — as it did to too many of 
the class — an enlarged idea of his own importance, 
and who, believing that vigilance was the price of 
safety, exercised his newly acquired authority upon 
late walkers with no slight exhibition of pride. He 



172 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO! 

startled the sleepy German with the stentorian 
challenge, "Who goes there?" and with a haste 
that indicated his dread of a too close intimacy with 
the "unknown," followed the challenge with, "Halt, 
and give the pass." 

The limited acquaintance of the German with the 
English vernacular prevented him from making a 
satisfactory reply, when the excited sentinel sounded 
the alarm, and the patrolmen coming to his rescue, 
they unitedly bore off in triumph to headquarters 
struggling Hans. Not doubting they had caught 
an incendiary, preparations were made for an im- 
mediate court-martial, the German all the while 
struggling with his captors and his English. The 
severe cross-examination was ab~»ut to begin, when 
the mystery was explained by a lucky speech of the 
German, who, gesticulating wildly, exclaimed: "Vat 
for you bring me] Ich bin arm. Ein hundred mensch 
say in alles strausse, 'Your bass;' and anocler say, 
'Your bass;' ven I try ein, und anoder, und drie 
day to get vun bass to go a little vay, und every- 
body gives me no bass, und you" — pointing to the 
vigilant patrolman, imitating his actions — "say, give 
me ein bass, ven I no get vun bass for myself." 

The shout of laughter which followed this dram- 
atic defence of the German convinced him of the 
good- will of his captors, but that vigilant patrolman 
at whose expense the laugh arose is yet badgered 
with the question: "By the by, have you got your 
pass yet?" 

One other incident will illustrate another aspect 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 173 

of this "patrol business," which, while we have no 
doubt it was as a temporary expedient very necessary 
to the safety of the city, was also a "war measure," 
endangering lives almost as much as it protected 
property. 

A bold son of Erin was initiated into the mys- 
teries of a patrolman's duties, and being placed at a 
dangerous post in a dark and lonesome alley, was 
told to allow no one to pass if they did not say, 
"Sheridan," which was the countersign for that 
night. The night was dark, and the captain of the 
patrol thought he would go see how Paddy was 
getting along. Turning into the alley he came 
suddenly upon the valorous sentinel intrenched be- 
hind a wood-pile, who bringing his gun to his 
shoulder, cocked it and aimed it at the intruder all 
in the same moment, and only paused before firms: 
to shout at the captain: "Halt ! and say Sheridan /" 
His services as a patrolman were no longer required. 

Proclajnations. 

The following proclamations are worthy to be 
preserved as mementoes of the great fire: 

by the governor of illinois. 

State of Illinois, Executive Department. 

John M. Palmer, Governor of Illinois, To all 
whom these presents shall come, greeting: 

Whereas, in my judgment, the great calamity 
that has overtaken Chicago, the largest city of the 



174 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

State ; that has deprived many thousands of our 
citizens of homes and rendered them destitute ; that 
has destroyed many millions in value of property, 
and thereby disturbing the business of the people 
and deranging the finances of the State, and inter- 
rupting the execution of the laws, is and constitutes 
"an extraordinary occasion" within the true intent 
and meaning of the eighth section of the fifth article 
of the Constitution. 

Now, therefore, I, John M. Palmer, Governor 
of the State of Illinois, do by this, my proclamation, 
convene and invite the two Houses of the General 
Assembly in session in the city of Springfield, on 
Friday, the 13th day of the month of October, in 
the year of our Lord 1871, at 12 o'clock noon of 
said day, to take into consideration the following 
subjects: — 

1. To appropriate such sum or sums of money, 
or adopt such other legislative measures as may be 
thought judicious, necessary, or proper, for the 
relief of the people of the city of Chicago. 

2. To make provision, by amending the revenue 
laws or otherwise, for the proper and just assess- 
ment and collection of taxes within the city of 
Chicago. 

3. To enact such other laws and to adopt such 
other measures as may be necessary for the relief 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 175 

of the city of Chicago and the people of said city, 
and for the execution and enforcement of the laws 
of the State. 

4. To make appropriations for the expenses of 
the General Assembly, and such other appropria- 
tions as may be necessary to carry on the State 
government. 

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my 
hand and caused the great seal of State to 
[seal.] be affixed. Done at the city of Spring- 
field, this 10th day of October, A. D. 1871. 

John M. Palmer. 
By the Governor, 

Edward Rummell, 

Secretary of State. 

BY THE GOVERNOR OF WISCONSIN. 

To the People of Wisconsin : 

Throughout the northern part of this State fires 
have been raging in the woods for many days, 
spreading desolation on every side. It is reported 
that hundreds of families have been rendered home- 
less by this devouring element, and reduced to utter 
destitution, their entire crops having been consumed. 
Their stock has been destroyed, and their farms are 
but a blackened desert. Unless they receive instant 
aid from portions not visited by this dreadful cal- 
amity, they must perish. 



176 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

The telegraph also brings the terrible news that 
a large portion of the city of Chicago is destroyed 
by a conflagration, which is still raging. Many 
thousands of people are thus reduced to penury, 
stripped of their all, and are now destitute of shelter 
and food. Their sufferings will be intense, and 
many may perish unless provisions are at once sent 
to them from the surrounding country. They must 
be assisted now. 

In the awful presence of such calamities the people 
of Wisconsin will not be backward in giving assist- 
ance to their afflicted fellow-men. 

I, therefore, recommend that immediate organized 
effort be made in every locality to forward provi- 
sions and money to the sufferers by this visitation, 
and suggest to mayors of cities, presidents of vil- 
lages, town supervisors, pastors of churches, and to 
the various benevolent societies, that they devote 
themselves immediately to the work of organizing 
effort, collecting contributions, and sending forward 
supplies for distribution. 

And I entreat all to give of their abundance to 
help those in such sore distress. 

Given under my hand, at the Capitol, at Madi- 
son, this 9th day of October, A. p. 18.71. 

Lucius Fairchild. 



its past, present and future. 177 

by the governor of michigan. 

State of Michigan, Executive Office, 
Lansing, October 9. 
The city of Chicago, in the neighboring State of 
Illinois, has been visited, in the providence of Al- 
mighty God, with a calamity almost unequalled in 
the annals of history. A large portion of that beauti- 
ful and most prosperous city has been reduced to 
ashes and is now in ruins. Many millions of dollars 
in property, the accumulation of years of industry 
and toil, have been swept away in a moment. The 
rich have been reduced to penury, the poor have 
lost the little they possessed, and many thousands 
of people rendered homeless and houseless, and are 
now without the absolute necessaries of life. I, 
therefore, earnestly call upon the citizens of every 
portion of Michigan to take immediate measures for 
alleviating the pressing wants of that fearfully af- 
flicted city by collecting and forwarding to the Mayor, 
or proper authorities of Chicago, supplies of food as 
well as liberal collections of money. Let this sore 
calamity of our neighbors remind us of the uncer- 
tainty of earthly possessions, and that when one 
member suiters all the members should suffer with 
it. I cannot doubt that the whole people of the 
State will most gladly, and most promptly, and most 
liberally respond to this urgent demand upon their 
sympathy; but no words of mine can plead so 
strongly as the calamity itself. 

Henry P. Baldwin, 

Governor of Michigan. 



178 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 
BY THE GOVERNOR OF IOWA. 

To the People of Iowa : 

An appalling en 1 amity has befallen our sister 
State. Her metropolis — the gre&t city of Chicago — 
is in ruins. Over 1 00,00 1) people are without shelter 
or food, except as supplied by others. A helping 
hand let us now promptly give. Let the liberality 
of our people, so lavishly displayed during the long 
period of national peril, come again to the front, to 
lend succor in this hour of distress. I would urge 
the appointment at once of relief committees in 
every city, town, and township, and I respectfully 
ask the local authorities to call meetings of the 
citizens to devise ways and means to render efficient 
aid. I would also ask the pastors of the various 
churches throughout the State to take up collections 
on Sunday morning next, or at such other time as 
they may deem proper, for the relief of the sufferers. 
Let us not be satisfied with any spasmodic effort. 
There will be need of relief of a substantial char- 
acter to aid the many thousands to prepare for the 
rigors of the coming winter. The magnificent public 
charities of that city, now paralyzed, can do little to 
this end. Those who live in homes of comfort and 
plenty must furnish this help, or misery and suffei 
ing will be the fate of many thousands of our neigh- 
bors. 

Samuel Merrill, Governor. 

Des Moines, October 10, 1871. 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 181 

BY THE GOYERNOR OF OHIO. 

Chicago, October 12. 
To the People of Ohio: 

It is believed by the best informed citizens here 
that many thousands of the sufferers must be 
provided with the necessaries of life during the 
coming winter. Let the efforts to raise contributions 
be energetically pushed. Money, fuel, flour, pork, 
clothing, and other articles not perishable should be 
collected as rapidly as possible — especially money, 
fuel, and flour. Mr. Joseph Medill, of The Tribune, 
estimates the number of those who will need assist- 
ance at about 70,000. 

R. B. Hayes, Governor of Ohio. 

BY MAYOR MASON. 

Whereas, in the Providence of God, to whose 
will we humbly submit, a terrible calamity has be- 
fallen our city, which demands of us our best efforts 
for the preservation of order and the relief of the 
suffering. 

Be it known that the faith and credit of the city 
of Chicago is hereby pledged for the necessary ex- 
penses for the relief of the suffering. Public order 
will be preserved. The Police, and Special Police 

now being appointed, will be responsible for the 

11 



182 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

maintenance of the peace and the protection of 
property. All officers and men of the Fire Depart- 
ment and Health Department will act as Special 
Policemen without further notice. The Mayor and 
Comptroller will give vouchers for all supplies fur- 
nished by the different Relief Committees. The 
head-quarters of the City Government will be at the 
Congregational Church, corner of West Washington 
and Ann streets. All persons are warned against 
any acts tending to endanger property. All per- 
sons caught in any depredation will be immediately 
arrested. 

With the help of God, order and peace and pri- 
vate property shall be preserved. The City Govern- 
ment and committees of citizens pledge themselves 
to the community to protect them, and prepare the 
way for a restoration of public and private welfare. 

It is believed the fire has spent its force, and all 
will soon be well. 

R. B. Mason, Mayor. 

George Taylor, Comptroller, 
(By R B. Mason.) 

Charles C. P. Holden, 

President Common Council. 

T. B. Brown, 

President Board of Police. 

Chicago, October 9, 1871. 






ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 183 

1. All citizens are requested to exercise great 
caution in the use of fire in their dwellings and not 
to use kerosene lights at present, as the city will be 
without a full supply of water for probably two or 
three days. 

2. The following bridges are passable, to wit : All 
bridges (except Van Buren and Adams streets) from 
Lake street south, and all bridges over the North 
Branch of the Chicago river. 

3. All good citizens who are willing to serve, are 
requested to report at the corner of Ann and Wash- 
ington streets, to be sworn in as special policemen. 

Citizens are requested to organize a police for 
each block in the city, and to send reports of such 
organization to the police head-quarters, corner of 
Union and West Madison streets. 

All persons needing food will be relieved by ap- 
plying at the following places: 

At the corner of Ann and West Washington ; 
Illinois Central Railroad round house. 

M. S. R. R. — Twenty-second street station. 

C. B. & Q. R. R.— Canal street depot. 

St. L. & A. R. R. — Near Sixteenth street. 

C. & N. W. R. R.— Corner of Kinzie and Canal 
streets. 



184 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

All the public school houses, and at nearly all the 
churches. 



4. Citizens are requested to avoid passing through 
e burnt districts unti 
standing can be levelled. 



the burnt districts until the dangerous walls left 



5. All saloons are ordered to be closed at 9 P. M. 
every day for one week, under a penalty of forfeiture 
of license. 

6. The Common Council have this day by ordi- 
nance fixed the price of bread at eight (8) cents per 
loaf of twelve ounces, and at the same rate for loaves 
of a less or greater weight, and affixed a penalty of 
ten dollars for selling, or attempting to sell, bread at 
a greater rate within the next ten days. 

7. Any hackman, expressman, drayman or team- 
ster charging more than the regular fare, will have 
his license revoked. 

All citizens are requested to aid in preserving the 
peace, good order and good name of our city. 

R. B. Mason, Mayor. 

October 10, 1871. 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 185 



BY LIEUT.-GEN. SHERIDAN. 

Chicago, October 9. 
To General Belknap, Secretary of War: 

The city of Chicago is almost utterly destroyed 
by fire. There is now reasonable hope of arresting 
it if the wind, which is yet blowing a gale, does not 
change. I ordered, on your authority, rations from 
St. Louis, tents from JefFersonville, and two compa- 
nies of infantry from Omaha. There will be many 
houseless people, much distress. 

P. H. Sheridan, Lieut. -Gen. 



Chicago, October 9. 
W. W. Belknap, Secretary of War: 

The fire here last night and to-day has destroyed 
almost all that was very valuble in this city. There 
is not a business house, bank, or hotel left. Most 
of the best part of the city is gone. Without exag- 
gerating, all the valuable portion of the city is in 
ruins. I think not less than 100,000 people are 
houseless, and those who had the most wealth are 
now poor. It seems to me to be such a terrible s- 
fortune that it may with propriety be considered a 
national calamity. 

P. H. Sheridan, Lieut- Gen. 



186 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION— CHICAGO : 

Washington, October. 10. 
Lieutenant-General Sheridan, Chicago : 

I agree with you that the fire is a national 
calamity; the sufferers have the sincere sympathy 
of the nation. Officers at the depots at St. Louis, 
Jeffersonville, and elsewhere, have been ordered to 
forward supplies liberally and promptly. 

Wm. W. Belknap, Secretary of War. 

Head-quarters Military Div. of the Missouri, 
Chicago, October 11, 1871. 
Governor John M. Palmer, Springfield: 

Seven companies of United States troops are 
here or coming, and a regiment is being organized 
for twenty days' service, from the old soldiers in 
the city, — which I think will be ample. Shall keep 
your volunteers for a day or so. Thanks for them. 

P. H. Sheridan. 



Head-quarters Military Div. of the Missouri, 

Chicago, October 12. 
To his Honor the Mayor : — 

The preservation of peace and good order of the 
city having been entrusted to me by your Honor, I 
am happy to state that no case of outbreak or disor- 
der has been reported. No authenticated attempt 
at incendiarism has reached me, and the people of 
the city are calm, quiet, and well-disposed. 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 187 

The force at my disposal is ample to maintain 
order, should it be necessary, and protect the district 
devastated by fire. Still, I would suggest to' citizens 
not to relax in their watchfulness until the smoulder- 
ing fires of the burnt buildings are entirely extin- 
guished. 

P. H. Sheridan, IAeut.-Geril. 



Head-quarters Military Div. of the Missouri, 
Chicago, III., October 11, 1871. 
General F. T. Sherman: 

Dear Sir: — With the approbation of the Mayor 
of this city, Lieutenant-General Sheridan directs 
that you organize a regiment of infantry, to consist 
of ten (10) companies; each company to consist of 
one (1) Captain, one (1) First and one (1) Second 
Lieutenant, and sixty (60) enlisted men, to serve as 
guards for the protection of the remaining portion 
of the city of Chicago, for the period of twenty days. 
Very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 

James B. Fry, 
Assistant Adjutant-General. 

The regiment was partly composed of companies 
of the State militia ordered by Lieutenant-General 
Sheridan, or some of his subordinates, to report to 
him or them, and of recruits enlisted under their 
authority. An extract from the order of Lieuten- 



188 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

ant-General Sheridan, mustering these troops out 
of service, will show its organization: 

Head-quarters Military Div. of the Missouri, 
Chicago, III., October 24, 1871. 

General Orders, No. 5. 

The First Regiment Chicago Volunteers, raised 
with the approbation of the Mayor, and in pursuance 
of orders dated October 11th, 1871, from these 
head-quarters, is hereby honorably mustered out of 
service, and discharged. 

This regiment was constituted as follows: 

Colonel Frank T. Sherman, First Chicago Volun- 
teers, commanding. 

Major C. H. Dyer, Adjutant. 

Major Charles T. Scammon, Aid-de-Camp. 

Lieutenant-Colonel H. Osterman, First Kegiment 
National Guards, Illinois State Militia. 

Major G. A. Bender, First Regiment National 
Guards, Illinois State Militia. 

Captain Fischer's Company (A), First Regiment 
National Guards, Illinois State Militia. 

Captain Pasch's Company (D), First Regiment 
National Guards, Illinois State Militia. 

Captain Cronas' Company (G), First Regiment 
National Guards, Illinois State Militia. 

Captain Paul's Company (H), First Regiment 
National Guards, Illinois State Militia. 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 189 

Captain Kelter's Company (I), First Regiment 
National Guards, Illinois State Militia. 

Captain Rogers' Company (B), First Chicago 
Volunteers, Lieutenant Adams, commanding. 

Captain Merrill's Company (C), First Chicago 
Volunteers. 

Captain Baker's Company (K), First Chicago 
Volunteers, recruited by Captain Whittlesey. 

Captain Colson's Company, University Cadets. 

Captain Crowley's Company, Montgomery Light 
Guards. 

Captain McCarthy's Company, Mulligan Zouaves. 

Captain Ryan's Company, Sheridan Guards. 

Captain Suiter's Company, Chicago Cadets. 

Captain Williams' Company, Hannibal Zouaves. 

The Norwegian Battalion of National Guards. 
Major Alstrup, commanding. 
Ole Bendixen, Adjutant. 
Captain Paulsen's Company (A). 
Captain Eck's Company (B). 
Captain Johnson's Company (C). 
Captain Beutzen's Company (D). 



Head-quarters Military Div. of the Missouri, 
Chicago, October 25, 1871. 

To the Adj. Gerfl of the Army, Washington, D. C. : 

Sir: — The disorganized condition of affairs in this 
city produced by and immediately following the late 



190 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

fire, induced the city authorities to ask for assistance 
from the military forces, as shown by the Mayor's 
proclamation of October 11th, 1871. [Copy herewith 
marked A.] To protect the public interests, en- 
trusted to me by the Mayor's proclamation, I called 
to this city Companies A and K of the Ninth In- 
fantry, from Omaha; Companies A, II and K of the 
Fifth Infantry, from Leavenworth; Company I, 
Sixth Infantry, from Tort Scott ; and accepted the 
kind offer of Major-General Halleck to send to me 
Companies F, N and K of the Fourth, and Company 
E of the Sixteenth Infantry, from Kentucky. I also, 
with the approbation of the Mayor, called into the 
service of the city of Chicago, a regiment of volun- 
teers for twenty days. [Copy of this call enclosed 
herewith, marked B.] These troops, both regulars 
and volunteers, were actively engaged during their 
service here in protecting the treasure in the burnt 
district, guarding the unburnt district from disorders 
and danger by further fires, and in protecting the 
storehouses, depots and sub-depots of supplies, es- 
tablished for the relief of sufferers from the fire. 
These duties were terminated on the 23d inst., as 
shown from letters herewith (marked C, D and E), 
and on the 24th inst. the regulars started to their 
respective stations, and the volunteers were dis- 
charged, as shown by special order No. 76, and gen- 
eral No. 5, from these head-quarters. [Copies here- 
with.] It is proper to mention that these volunteers 
were not taken into the service of the United States, 
and no orders, agreements, or promises were made 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 191 

giving them any claims against the United States 
for services rendered. I am, very respectfully, 
Your obedient servant, 

P. H. Sheridan, 

Lieutenant-General Commanding. 

by the mayor of new york. 

Mayor's Office, New York, 

Afternoon of October 9. 
A disaster has fallen on the great city of Chicago, 
which not only has destroyed the best part of its 
dwellings, and paralyzed its industry and its busi- 
ness, but threatens the gravest consequences to the 
commerce and prosperity of our country. It has 
also reduced thousands of people to houselessness 
and privation. A despatch from the Mayor of Chi- 
cago comes in these words: — "Can you send us 
some aid for a hundred thousand houseless people. 
Army bread and cheese desirable." I have respon- 
ded that New York will do everything to alleviate 
this disaster ; and I now call upon the people to 
make such organization as may be speediest and 
most effective for the purpose of sending money and 
clothing and food. I would recommend the imme- 
diate formation of general relief committees, who 
would take charge of all contributions, in order that 
no time may be lost in carrying relief to those of 
our fellow citizens who have fallen under this dis- 
pensation of Providence. I suggest that the Cham- 
ber of Commerce, the Produce Exchange, the Board 



192 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

of Brokers, and the united presidents of the banks, 
and all religious and charitable associations immedi- 
ately call a meeting of their respective members, 
and from them select independent relief committees, 
who shall solicit subscriptions of money, food, and 
clothing within their appropriate spheres of action. 
In the meantime, I am authorized to state that con- 
tributions of food and clothing sent to the depots of 
the Erie and Hudson and Central Railroads (under 
early and spontaneous offers of Jay Gould and Wil- 
liam H. Vanderbilt), in even small quantities, from 
individuals or business sources, will be at once for- 
warded through to Chicago free of expense. I can- 
not too strongly urge upon our citizens immediate 
attention to this subject. 

A. Oaket Hall, Mayor. 



by allan pinkerton. 

Office of Pinkerton's Police. 

Orders are hereby given to Captains, Lieutenants, 
Sergeants, and men of Pinkerton's preventive police, 
that they are in charge of the burning district, in 
the South Division. Any person stealing, or seek- 
ing to steal any property in my charge, or attempting 
to break open the safes, as the men cannot make 
arrests at the present time, they shall kill the persons 
by my orders. No mercy shall be shown them, but 
death shall be their fate. 

Allan Pinkerton. 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 193 



INCIDENTS. 

Concerning the incidents of that fearful night in 
the streets of the South Division, volumes might be 
written. Of course the most exaggerated reports 
and startling incidents were forwarded by the corre- 
spondents of Eastern papers to their respective 
journals, and for a time the whole country believed 
that incendiaries were hanging by the scores to 
lamp posts ; that bridges were swung, filled with the 
hurrying crowds, who were thus suspended over the 
river and burned to death ; that hundreds of women 
rushed from dwellings with their clothes in a blaze ; 
that the prisoners in the jail and Bridewell, were 
left in their cells and burned to death ; and so on 
through the gloomy catalogue of horrors. 

Leaving out what may be attributed to excited 
imaginations, and the mere desire to furnish sensa- 
tional letters, there was still much that was startling 
and many striking incidents of heroism and suffer- 
ing that are true. In the pages immediately fol- 
lowing we have grouped together a number of these 
incidents and general facts, which will prove of in- 
terest to the reader. 

Bookseller's Row, 

On State street was the fine row of five-story 
marble front buildings known as " Bookseller's 
Row." These buildings were 190 feet deep, and 



194 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

including the basements were filled with books 
and stationery. Griggs & Co., besides a large 
stock of imported works, had whole floors of 
school books. The Western News Company, be- 
sides its immense salesroom, had a force of sixty per- 
sons engaged in packing goods. All these stores 
were elaborately finished, and of course included 
heavy stocks of paper and other stationery. An 
exploration of the ruins failed to discover a book, or 
a sheet or a quire of paper. The only legible thing 
found was a single leaf, badly scorched, of a Bible 
and this is said to have contained, though we did 
not see it, that part of the first chapter of Jeremiah 
which opens : 

" How doth the city set solitary that was full of 
people, how she became as a widow." 

" She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are 
on her cheeks." 

That is all that was left of the more than a million 
of books contained in all these immense stores. 



The rescue of the Dead* 

On Saturday, a man residing in the North Division 
died, and the body was prepared for burial on Sun- 
day. In the meantime the fire came along, and a 
brave son seized the coffin, and struggling under 
the load slowly tried to escape. The fire moved 
faster than he did, and getting help he hastened to 
the lake shore. But the coffin was reached by the 
heat, and to save it and the body from burning, it 



* 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 195 

was thrown into the lake, with a large stone attached 
to keep it from being carried away. 

The horrors of the dreadful night were intensified 
by the painful exhibitions of relatives bearing away 
from the advancing flames, the bodies of children, 
mothers and fathers who had died during the 
twenty-four hours preceding. All other things 
were abandoned in order to rescue these bodies of 
their loved ones. In most cases the work had to be 
performed by the family unaided; and in a majority 
of such cases, the corpse had to be abandoned at last, 
even after having been carried a mile or more 
through the rain of fire. The grief and wailings of 
the survivors was piteous in the extreme; often 
men threw away such of their own property as they 
were saving to aid these afflicted sufferers, but as a 
rule, and without any actual selfishness, each family 
had as much as it could possibly do to get beyond 
the range of the stifling smoke and the ever gain- 
ing heat and blaze. 

The story is told, but it needs more confirmation 
before being accepted as true, that a German woman 
beinsr ill and near death, when the fire reached the 
premises, the family, unable to remove her, decided 
not to let her burn, and placing her on a mattress, 
dropped her into the neighboring river, when she 
was instantly drowned. It was a choice of deaths, 
and the decision was one of loving hearts, who 
unable to save, sought to lessen the horror and 
physical pain of the last moment. 



196 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

Destruction of Trunks. 

The destruction of trunks during the fire was 
very great. Almost every person who had one 
endeavored to carry off a trunk full of the best 
things he had. As a result the majority of these 
trunks were unusually heavy, and more than any 
but a practiced hand could carry alone for any 
distance. Thousands of trunks were removed from 
houses and dragged some of them a s,hort and many 
a long distance, but taking the city as a whole, it is 
safe to say, that not over half of these trunks escaped 
destruction in the owner's hands. Those who were 
so fortunate as to depart early and secure the aid of 
vehicles, of course saved their trunks, provided they 
moved beyond the final range of the fire ; but 
hundreds who escaped before daylight, were over- 
taken again before noon, and obliged to fly, leaving 
this time to be burned up all that they had rescued in 
their earlier flight. Owners of express and other 
wagons in some instances kindly aided in the escape 
of families and removal of baggage, but avarice 
was too powerful for others. $50 and §100 were 
demanded in advance before they would remove a 
single trunk. One of the government officers after 
having done his duty at* the office returned to his 
residence to find it threatened by fire. He found 
an express wagon, and offered to pay $30 for 
carrying three trunks a few blocks to a railrcad 
depot. When the trunks were in the wagon, he 
demanded his money, and though he knew the 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 199 

officer personally, threw the trunks out when the 
latter said he had but $25 with him. As the fire 
progressed, the sums demanded increased. The 
clerks of a law publishing house rescued the electro- 
type plates and a number of works, and piled them 
on the sidewalk. $100 was demanded to move 
them out of the range of the fire, and because the 
clerks could not pay him that sum in advance, he 
drove away, and $10,000 worth of electrotypes 
were, an hour later, melted into a mass. 

This avarice soon degenerated into dishonesty, and 
drivers refused to hire on any terms and coursed the 
streets picking up abandoned trunks, and other 
property which they carried off as their own. Still 
the amount of property stolen on that night and 
the day succeeding was comparatively insignificant. 
There was no time for stealing. The thief lingered 
behind the fugitive owner to appropriate what the 
latter had left, but the fire was immediately at hand. 
No article of bulk could be stolen without the aid 
of a horse and vehicle, and these, in order to reach 
a place of safety, had to make circuitous journeys 
so long that no second trip was possible. That much 
was stolen by rogues on foot and rogues in drays, 
wagons and other vehicles is most true, but it was 
of little profit. Except in the case of money or 
jewelry or other like light valuables, all such stolen 
property was in the main abandoned, and both 
robber and robbed joined in the race for life and 
safety beyond the reach of the flame, and beyond 

the influence of the consuming heat. 

12 



200 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO 



Eccentricities, 

It was amusing, if it were not too painful, to 
notice the strange tastes and feelings shown by those 
who sought to save some portions of their property. 
The children, of course, were first in order; next a 
trunk, in which were packed so many things as often 
to render the trunk too heavy to be moved. Others, 
having neither children nor trunks, would carry a 
looking glass, a joint of stove pipe, a pine table, one 
or two chairs, a child's cradle or cup, a water pitcher, 
or some other article of the least possible value. 
On Monday at noon, we saw a young woman, who 
had fled before the fire from four o'clock in the 
morning. Over the left arm she had a small bundle 
of clothing and in the right hand, held between the 
fingers, were three small wine glasses. These were 
all she had saved, and these wine glasses she had 
carried on her long journey for eight hours. 

One of the favorite articles which the thieves 
who had use of vehicles appropriated, was pianos. 
Hundreds of these were got out of the houses, 
but were necessarily abandoned for want of trans- 
portation. The thieves seeing these, would back 
up, put the piano on the dray or wagon, and 
drive off with it. What was done with them \ 
Many of them of course were deposited temporarily 
in open lots, and were afterwards overtaken and 
destroyed by the fire. Others were held for ransom, 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 201 

but we have no doubt that scores were secreted to 
be sent elsewhere, in time, to be sold by the thieves. 
The same dishonest gentry were special admirers of 
the fine arts, and boldly entered houses and tore 
down valuable paintings, of which there were very 
many in Chicago. These were packed in wagons. 
The art galleries were also extensively robbed, under 
the pretence of saving, and in time these pictures 
will teem up in other parts of the country for sale. 

The Domestic Animals. 

The number of horses in Chicago was very great, 
far in excess of the proportion owned in most cities. 
The work of filling the streets an average depth 
of seven or eight feet, had built up here an immense 
business in the way of two horse wagons designed 
for that business. These wagons were of a peculiar 
construction. The part above the running gear was 
a skeleton. When this wagon was to receive a 
load, one or, two boards are placed on the edge at 
each side, against the posts, giving a depth of two 
feet or more. Other loose boards, about six inches 
wide each, are then arranged compactly for the 
bottom. A tail board serves the double purpose of 
keeping the side pieces in their places, and of com- 
pleting the temporary box. The work of unload- 
ing is very expeditious. The tail board is removed, 
then one of the side pieces, and then the bottom 
boards are turned on edge, one after the other 
letting the load fall under the wagon. 



202 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO I 

The great business done here in lumber, and in 
hauling sand from the lake, in addition to the wants 
of an active commercial city, gave employment to 
many thousands of horses. A result was that a 
stable or barn was a necessary appendage to the 
great majority of houses, including the unpretending 
domiciles of the teamsters. Large numbers of these 
teams were put in use on the night of the fire, 
removing goods and persons, but a much larger 
number of the horses were let loose or broke loose. 
They were uncontrollable. The fire and heat, and 
the terrible roar, seemed to madden them, and they 
rushed at full speed through the streets, turning 
round corners, and forever returning as near to their 
old places of shelter as the fire would permit. Even 
those in harness felt the excitement, and their terror 
was paiuful to witness. Many sunk to the street, 
overcome by fear. The heat, the blaze, the inces- 
sant fall of fire, the smoke and cinders, and above 
all, the fearful roaring of the gale of fire, seemed 
to paralyze many of these faithful animals. Of 
those who were loose, and madly careering through 
the streets, large numbers perished, being hemmed 
in by the fire, or rushing frantically into alley ways 
and courts were caught in the flames, and life 
extinguished almost instantly. 

True to their natural instincts, the cats refused 
to leave the houses, and many which were forcibly 
rescued escaped, and went back again into the 
burning buildings. 

Chicago has been notorious for its rats. The 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 203 

wooden sidewalks have been conducive to their in- 
crease. Beneath these structures they were safe from 
dogs and men, and burrowing deep were protected 
even in the coldest weather. This fire spared 
nothing that came within its reach, and it is not at 
all extravagant to say, that on that night five mil- 
lions of rats of all ages were destroyed. The dogs, 
save those unfortunates which were chained, shared 
the retreat of their owners. Though many of them 
were lost by being shut up in the houses. The howl- 
ings of the poor animals chained or otherwise de- 
tained, added to the horrors of that eventful night. 

On Madison street, opposite Farwell Hall, was a 
store in which were kept a large collection of birds 
of many varieties? Parrots, macaws, mocking birds, 
sparrows, and an immense collection of imported 
singing birds, especially of canaries. There were 
also in the same store three or four monkeys, and 
in the basement specimens of various choice breeds 
of poultry. The fire attacked the building suddenly 
and fiercely. The time was barely sufficient for 
the human inmates to escape. But from the im- 
prisoned inmates there was a combined appeal, 
seemingly an agonized shriek that was piteous in the 
extreme. Had they been released they would have 
perished in the atmosphere without, and as soon as 
the glass front of the store was broken, the heat and 
smoke rushed in, extinguishing the life of every 
breathing thing within as if done by magic. Chick- 
ens, birds, monkeys, parrots all became instantly 
silent, the hot air had literally consumed them. 



204 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 



The Grave Yards* 

A mile or more north of the water works and ex- 
tending to within 200 yards of the lake, was the 
Roman Catholic grave yard, and next it was a Ger- 
man grave yard. Interments had ceased in these 
some years ago, but all the bodies had not been re- 
moved to the new cemeteries farther up the lake. 
These cemeteries had been contemporary with the 
city. A large part of them was donated to the 
graves of the poor and strangers. As a general thing 
surviving friends, who had the means, long since re- 
moved the bodies of their kindred; those who 
remained had been the husbands, wives and children 
of the poor, but were none the less dear. These 
graves were marked with wooden boards, upon 
which were painted or cut the initials of the dead, 
and occasionally some beyond. In the one yard, 
the inscriptions were in German. Even in these 
abandoned cities of the dead, hundreds would spend 
the long summer afternoons trimming the sandy 
mounds, straightening the loose boards, and bring- 
ing water from the lake to refresh the parched 
plants and flowers which affection had planted upon 
the graves. Into these grave yards many fugitives had 
fled during that Sunday night and Monday morning. 
With them were carried some household goods. 
Stands, beds, chairs, tables, the whole presenting a 
strange collection. The occupants were of all classes. 
Strong men, hard working able bodied men; weak 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 205 

and delicate women; many of the occupants of 
fashionable dens of vice; refined and cultivated 
women; merchants, lawyers and bankers ; servant 
men and women, but the great bulk were the 
families of small tradesmen, and working people of 
the neighborhood. Of course there were troops of 
children, all huddled in groups, with backs to the 
fire, to protect their eyes from the blinding smoke 
and consuming heat. Incessantly there fell among 
them the flying sparks and cinders. In vain did 
these poor fugitives seek to cover their packages of 
clothing with sand. The fire would fall upon them 
and set them ablaze. At last the fire approached 
them ; it seized upon the long wooden sidewalks 
of the streets beyond, and with the speed of light- 
ning traversed block after block, encircling every 
place with a cordon of fire. The fences one after 
another caught, the twigs, and scattered lumber, 
with here and there a house, a stable, or a shed 
seemed to furnish food enough to carry that fire 
along. At last it reached the grave yard, the fences 
caught and blazed; the heat prepared everything 
for the advancing column of fire. Group after 
group fled before the flame ; the straw beds, chairs, 
tables, the trunks, the bundles of clothes and the 
household goods, soon were on fire ; head board 
after head board blazed as a brazen mirror reflect- 
ing light. The little fences around the burial lots, 
the scanty trees' and shubbery all took fire, and 
each fed the rapacious flames. The living had to 
abandon even the desolate grave yard, and the 



206 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

fire swept from above the earth everything that was 
consumable. Stout trees were burned down below 
the ordinary level of the soil in which they grew. 
These cemeteries before the fire were desolate — one- 
half the dead having been disentered, and the monu- 
ments and valuable adornments removed, and now 
came the fire to make desolation more desolate, not a 
vestige remains of anything in these silent cities 
of the dead save the blackened embers of the once 
erect grave signs, and of the little property carried 
there for safety and then overtaken and consumed 
by the insatiable fire. 



Weddings and Marriages. 

The fire played sad work with a number of wed- 
dings which were to be celebrated within a day or 
two after the date of the fire. In one case the 
daughter of one of our most celebrated clergymen 
was to have been married on Tuesday. The circle 
of her acquaintance included the majority of the 
respectable people of all sects in the city. The 
groom was equally respected. In anticipation of the 
marriage, a house had been built for the new couple, 
and had been furnished throughout. Everything 
was in readiness, and upon their marriage they were 
to commence housekeeping the same day. These 
young people had fondly watched the erection of 
that home, had visited it together during its pro- 
gress, and after its completion had selected the fur- 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 207 

niture and directed its arrangement throughout. 
Tuesday was to begin a new era for them. The 
fire came on Monday morning. It destroyed the 
new house and its contents ; it destroyed the home 
of the groom and of his parents and relatives. It 
destroyed the church in which they were to be 
married, and then the house of the expectant bride 
and of her father; all the wedding clothes were 
carried off by the flames ; all her other clothing save 
the few articles she had put on in her hasty flight 
were in like manner destroyed. It was night on 
Monday before these close bound neighbors could 
find one another, but the wedding was not to be 
postponed. Though the fondly anticipated assem- 
blage of friends and joyous house warming had to 
be abandoned, the marriage itself — the union of 
hearts and of hands, was still to go on. So on the 
next morning, at the same hour originally fixed 
upon, in plain attire, the marriage took place. The 
only serious difficulty in the case was in the matter 
of under clothes for the lady. That line of goods 
was a luxury in Chicago for several days. But very 
few who saved any clothes it seemed saved these ; 
there were none to be borrowed and none to be 
bought, and it is said that the whole of Tuesday 
was consumed before proper garments for the lady 
could be found. The young couple, however, in 
sight of the smoking ruins of their promised home, 
commenced life, happy in the consciousness of mu- 
tual affection, and grateful that in their large family 
circle all had been saved and protected from that 



208 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

loss of life and health which had befallen so many 
thousands of others. 

Other weddings fixed for that eventful week, and 
which would have been accompanied with all the 
fashionable display so general at this day, were cele- 
brated under improvised homes, in borrowed cloth- 
ing, but with no less happy hopes and charming 
anticipations. 

Not so happy, however, was the result in all cases. 
One bright blooming girl of nineteen years was to 
have been married on the Thursday following the 
fire. She was the daughter of a wealthy merchant, 
and her intended was a member of a large business 
firm. In that dreadful night she with her father's 
family escaped on foot, and in the tumult and the 
confusion of the prolonged flight before the fire, she 
was separated from her friends. In her ignorance 
of the localities she wandered from place to place, 
but forever pursued by the fire, until at last it is 
supposed she got beyond the northern limits of the 
city. In vain did her friends seek for her ; no one 
had seen her, nor could any inquiry be prosecuted 
amid the universal separation of friends and fami- 
lies. Finally, on Thursday morning, about day- 
light, the citizen's patrol, in a part of the city far 
remote from where she had been lost, discovered a 
woman but partially clad, walking listlessly along; 
occasionally she would in feeble voice call as if for 
help, again she would mutter unintelligible senten- 
ces, and again recite in plaintive tones some little 
verse or childish song. She made no resistance to 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 209 

the gentlemen when they kindly asked her to go 
with them. They carried her to a dwelling near 
by when she was passively placed in a warm bed, 
and a physician summoned. She would gaze upon 
the kind faces of those around her, as if in search 
of some familiar features, but beyond this betrayed 
no intelligence. She was kept for a few days and 
every attention given to her, but she grew no better. 
In changing her clothing a photograph was found 
with a well known name upon it. This person was 
informed, and with his wife hastened to embrace 
their daughter. She failed to recognize them. The 
long exposure and want of rest, combined with the 
protracted terrors of that fearful night, had destroyed 
her reason ; and this beautiful and accomplished girl ? 
whose marriage had been so joyfully expected, is 
now insane, though it is hoped, that time and care 
and affectionate ministrations may bring back the 
intelligence that seemingly has gone forever. 

The Ogden Mansion. 

One of the great objects of interest in the city is 
the house of Malilon D. Ogden. Its escape is a 
marvel. In every direction as far as the eye can 
reach is the blackened prairie. It stands an oasis 
in the desert. On the night of the fire the family 
was absent from the city, but two or three gentlemen 
were there. They fought to save the building. 
They tore up the carpets, and used all the blankets 
on the premises. These they spread ever the ironts 



210 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

of the house and of the barn exposed to the fire; 
with brooms and buckets of water they kept the 
roofs free of falling fire. In front of the house and 
between it and the approaching fire was a small 
park — just one vacant block. But this park early 
in the night was filled with fugitives and their fur- 
niture. In time the fire came, driving out the 
refugees, and seizing upon the beds and bedding 
and furniture and household stuff, burned them as 
if they were so much straw. On the north and on 
the south flanks of Ogclen's house the fire raged 
with fury, and in front was the grand blaze from 
the accumulated furniture of fifty families. So long 
as the water works continued to furnish water, 
those in charge of Ogden's premises easily kept the 
carpets and blankets and other woollen protections 
wet. But when the hydrant ceased to furnish water 
they were driven to a cistern which they knew was 
not inexhaustible. Several barrels of cider were 
used to saturate the carpets, and to throw upon the 
burning cinders. In the meantime a house in the 
rear of Ogden's caught fire. It was thus sur- 
rounded on all sides by blaze, and the heat borne 
down upon it by the relentless gale. Yet it was 
saved. A dozen times did the fences catch, but a 
ready bucket of water or cider put it out. The 
wooden sidewalk burned on one side of the building 
but the wind carried the fire beyond the house. 
The fire in the park soon burned out. Everything 
between the house and the wind was rapidly con- 
sumed, and when day dawned, after three or four 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 211 

hours of hard labor, the blazing torrent had passed 
on to the north, leaving nothing but this solitary 
building in an area of 2,600 acres. On Sunday 
Mr. Ogden lived in the centre of a densely popu- 
lated city. The immediate district in which he 
lived contained 75,000 persons. In the early dawn 
his nearest neighbor was miles away, and standing 
in his doorway the view was as unbroken by habi- 
tations as it was fifty years ago when it was a track- 
less prairie. Next to the ruins, and to many far 
before the ruins, in popular interest is the house 
that the fire did not burn, the house from which the 
fire turned to the right and the left to avoid, closing 
again in its rear, and carrying everything as before 
in its fearful destruction. 



A Courageous Banker.^ 

A remarkable instance of courage and presence 
of mind is told of Mr. E. I. Tinkham, of the 
Second National Bank. On Monday morning, be- 
fore the fire had reached that building, Mr. Tink- 
ham went to the safe and succeeded in getting out 
$600,000. This pile of greenbacks he packed into 
a common trunk, and hired a colored man for 
$1,000 to convey it to the Milwaukee depot. Fear- 
ing to be recognized in connection with the precious 
load, Mr. Tinkman followed the man for a time at 
some distance, but soon lost sight of him. He was 
then overtaken by the fire storm, and was driven 
toward the lake on the south side. Here, after 



212 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

passing through several narrow escapes from suffo- 
cation, he succeeded in working his way, by some 
means, to a tugboat, and got round to the Milwau- 
kee depot, where he found the colored man waiting 
for him, with the trunk, according to promise. Mr. 
Tinkham paid the man the $1,000, and started 
with the trunk for Milwaukee, and the money was 
safely deposited in Marshall and Illsley's bank of 
that city. 

A Faithful Cleric, 

Mr. Nathaniel Bacon, of Niles, Michigan, student 
at law with Messrs. Tenney, McClellan & Tenney, 
slept in their office. On waking at about one 
o'clock, and seeing the Court House on fire, he saw 
that the office, which was immediately opposite, 
would surely go. Judging that one of the safes in 
the office would not prove fire proof, he promptly 
emptied the contents of his trunk on the floor of 
the doomed building, and, filling it with the interior 
contents of the safe, books, valuable papers, money, 
&c, shouldered the trunk and carried it to a place 
of safety on Twenty-second street — losing thereby 
all his own clothing and effects except what he 
had on. 

A Baby Rescued. 

In Ontario street, near Clark, where the fire sud- 
denly leaped across westward through the North 
Division, a baby ten months old was thrown from a 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 213 

fourth-story window, and caught in a blanket by 
men congregated below. It started head down- 
wards, like Sam Patch in his last leap, but gradually 
regained the perpendicular, and alighted on its feet 
like an athlete. The infant was somewhat worried 
for breath at first, but it gradually recovered equili- 
brium, and in five minutes was serenely sucking its 
thumb. The father climbed down by the tin water 
pipe at the corner of the building. 

Safe Vaults. 

A vase of wax flowers was taken from a vault on 
Dearborn street, and was found perfect — not having 
been injured in the least. From another safe on 
Dearborn street was taken a box of matches, as 
new in appearance as when turned out of the fac- 
tory. The vault of the Tribune also yielded all its 
contents in perfect order, even to a box of matches. 

A Deranged Woman. 

One of the most pitiful sights was that of a 
middle aged woman on State street, loaded with 
bundles, struggling through the crowd singing the 
Mother Goose melody : 

" Chickery, chickery, 
Craney crow, 
I went to the well to wash my toe," &c. 

There were hundreds of others likewise dis- 
tracted, and many rendered desperate by the 



214 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

whisky or beer which, from excessive thirst, in 
the absence of water, they drank in great quantities, 
spread themselves in every direction, to the terror 
of all they met. 

Roche the Teamster. 

James Eoche, a teamster, lived at 40 Glen street. 
While attempting to save his furniture a faggot 
fell in the wagon he was loading and lighted the 
straw bed in which his wife had deposited $300. 
While he was trying to save something from the 
wreak 'of the load she came rushing out of the house 
in a blaze, and ran up the street. Roche made 
chase, overtook her, thrust her into a door, and 
stripped her of every remnant of her flaming garb. 
Nothing was left upon her. This house was on fire 
in another minute. Roche rushed into the street 
and seized a horse-blanket, which he gave to his 
wife, and then returned to his house. Here he met 
another woman in flames, and handled her with 
similar roughness, and discovered that she was his 
only daughter. He sent her after her mother down 
the street, as nude as my lady Godiva, and let us 
hope that every eye similarly respected her. She 
found her mother, and the two, in one horse-blanket, 
crept under the sidewalk and made their way thus 
to North avenue bridge, where they lay secreted all 
through the rainy night and far into the next day, 
until relief was brought. 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 217 

What Cider accomplished. 

One building that remains, an oasis in a bleak 
and black Sahara, is a small, white, wooden cottage 
on Lincoln place. A policeman named Bellinger 
lived here. He hauled up the sidewalk, raked up 
the leaves and burned them, hewed down the fence 
and carried it into the house in pieces, and 
notified his neighbors that, live or die, he would 
stick to that house. The fire advanced and gave 
battle. It flung torches into his porch, it hurled 
them through the windows. It began and kept 
up a hot bombardment of flaming shot upon 
the roof. He met it at every point ; with hands 
and boots, with water and wet blankets, and finally 
as the last wave of fire enveloped the building in a 
sirocco and whirled through the crackling tree-tops 
and gyrated madly over the adjacent walls and 
wavered and whirled over the smoking roof, Bellinger 
cast a pale into his cistern and it was dry. The 
blankets were on fire. Then the Bellinger genius 
rose triumphant. He assaulted his cider barrels, and 
little by little, emptied their contents on the roof. 
It was the coup de guerre. It gave him victory. 
His blankets were scorched, his hands blistered, his 
boots distorted, and his cider spilled, but his house 
was saved. 

The Post Office Cat. 

One of the features of the post office was the 

official cat. This notorious feline may or may 

not have had a name ; at any rate it is not now 

13 



218 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

known, she (or he) had been once before bnrned 
out, and was, therefore, in a measure prepared for 
this calamity. On the night of the fire the cat was 
present and assisted in the removal, though she did 
not go herself. Nobody invited her, and she was 
too much of a public spirited employee to go without 
permission. When the work of removing the safes 
was in progress, the tearing away of a partition 
revealed the faithful public servant in a pail partially 
filled with water. She had rented this as temporary 
quarters and apparently enjoyed the cool shelter 
which it afforded. From her position it appeared 
impossible that she could have gone away and 
returned after the fire, and so she may be set down 
as the only living being who passed Sunday night 
and Monday in the burnt district. 



Fire Humors. 

It was a remarkable feature of the fire that it 
developed humor as well as pathos. One merchant, 
who found his safe and its contents destroyed, 
quietly remarked that there was no blame attached 
to the safe ; that it was of chilled iron, and would 
have stood, but that the fire had taken the chill 
all out. 

A firm of painters on Madison street bulletined 
their removal as follows, on a sign-board erected 
like a guide-board upon the ruins of their old 
establishment : 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 219 



MOORE & GOE, 

House and Sign Painters, 

Removed to 111 Desplaines ct., 

Capital, $000,000.30. 



An editor of a daily paper received several 
poetical effusions suggested by the late disaster; 
but he declined them all, on the ground that it was 
wasteful to print anything which required every line 
with a capital, when capital was so scarce. 

A bride who entered the holy married state on 
Tuesday evening determined to do so in a calico 
dress, in deference both to the proprieties and the 
necessities of the occasion. But she desired that 
her toilette tie cliamhre should be, if possible, on a 
more gorgeous scale. Being destitute of a robe cle 
niiit of suitable elegance, she sent out to several 
neighbors of her temporary hostess to borrow such 
a garment, stipulating that it must be a fine one. 
So peculiar is the feminine nature, however, that 
her request excited no enthusiasm in her behalf 
among the ladies to whom it came. 

A signboard stuck in the ruins of a building 
on Madison street, read : " Owing to circumstances 
over which we had no control, we have removed," 
etc. 



220 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 



A Narrow Escape, 

The following thrilling episode is narrated by an 
eye witness . 

A woman was seen at the window of a building, 
shrieking for assistance. The building was on fire 
within, and the only hope of escape, the staircases, 
had been destroyed. The walls were still safe, and 
a short ladder was procured. A man with long 
silvery hair mounted a box and cried out: "A 
hundred dollars to any brave man who will go ^;o 
her rescue !" A dozen men sprang forward, and 
the leader said: "We don't want your money, but 
we will try !" Throwing off his coat, the stranger 
seized a rope, ran up the ladder, and entered the 
lower window. He was lost from view for a 
moment, but soon returned, his shirt blackened 
with the smoke and burned by the falling embers. 
"Let some one come up," he shouted; "I want 
some help." Another followed, and the ladder was 
drawn in and pushed up through the burning flames 
at the staircase. They mounted to the story above 
and repeated the process. They were now within 
one story of the poor woman. She meanwhile had 
been caught by the flames, and to save herself had 
been obliged to tear off her outer clothing. Not a 
moment was to be lost, and when the men appeared 
at the window — with hair curled with the intense 
heat, their clothing in rags and partially burned — 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 221 

and sent down the coil of rope for a new ladder, 
(theirs having been broken by a falling timber) all 
hope seemed gone. But by great efforts they raised 
the ladder to where they were, and once more es- 
sayed to reach the hapless woman above them. 
But the flames were too hot, and they were forced 
back from the interior to the window. Here they 
essayed to throw the rope to the woman, but in the 
excitement of the occasion they could not succeed. 
The leader, however, was a man of resources, 
and lowering the rope again, he started for the 
hook. One was attached, and when drawn up he 
managed to hand the rope to the woman, and 
shouted to her to make it fast and to descend to 
them. She tied the rope to some place, still strong 
enough to sustain the strain, but could not, in her 
weakness, risk herself in the descent. All seemed 
lost ; but the crowd soon beheld the first of the 
men slowly ascending the rope, hand over hand. 
Cheer after cheer hailed him as he drew himself 
into the window. In a moment the woman was 
lowered to the story below, where she was seized by 
the second brave rescuer, who drew her into the 
room and waited for the descent of his companion. 
The rope was not long enough to reach from where 
it was attached to the pavement, but a second w r as 
produced, and a piece of twine attached to a stone, 
was thrown in, which enabled them to haul it up. 
The two then lowered the woman, almost " in natura 
purilms" to the street and the first lowered the 
second and then came down himself. 



222 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 



A Scene in the Tunnel. 

While the fire was raging in the South Division, 
a thrilling scene occurred in the Washington street 
tunnel. Several of the bridges over the South 
Branch being on fire, the tunnel was resorted to by 
thousands of people who desired to pass from one 
division into the other. At a moment when the 
passage way was filled with pedestrians, rushing 
wildly in either direction, the gas suddenly gave out 
and all were left in total darkness. A terrible panic, 
a collision, and the trampling to death of the weaker 
by the stronger, seemed inevitable. But, strange as 
it may seem, everybody in that dark recess seemed 
at once to comprehend the necessity for coolness 
and courage ; not a man lost his presence of mind ; 
but all, as with one accord, bore to the right, each 
calmly enjoining upon others to be cool and steady, 
and to march steadily on till the end of the tunnel 
could be reached. Rapidly, but without confusion, 
the two columns moved on through the thick dark- 
ness with, almost military precision, the silence being 
broken only by frequent shouts of " right," " right." 
There was no collision, and no one was harmed, but 
all reached the ends of the tunnel in safety, and 
then, for the first time in almost ten minutes, 
breathed freely. 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 223 



Puritan Relics Unharmed. 

The beautiful New England Church, in the North 
Division, was one of the most perfect Gothic struc- 
tures in the country, was utterly destroyed, with 
the exception of the Scotch granite columns at the 
entrance, some Puritan relics from Scrooby Manor, 
and a piece of the Plymouth Rock, which were 
inserted in the main archway, above the door. With 
genuine Scotch persistency and Puritan firmness, 
these refused to yield to either wind or flame, and 
still remain there. In a similar manner, all that 
remain of St. James' Church is the memorial monu- 
ment to her sons who fell in battle. 



Advertisements. 

Taking up the first issue of the Chicago Tribune, 
after the fire, the advertisements are singularly sug- 
gestive of grief, uncertainty and penury. Many 
begin as follows: "Wanted to find, Swedish girl 
Sophia, formerly living in my family ;" " A lost cow 
can be found at," etc. ; " Two stray trunks can be 
heard from at," etc. ; " Taken out of the flames, a 
dark bay mare ;" " Ten dollars reward, and no ques- 
tion asked, for a pailfull of dental instruments taken 
from," etc. ; " If the grey-whiskered man who was 

seen removing trunks from," etc. ; " Mr. , 

please call at , and get your boy ■ Georgie ;' " 

" Mr. , go to number ; your father 



224 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

is there." " Agnes will find her father at 

." And so on for two long, closely-printed 

columns. There is also a fearful number of "miss- 
ing" notices, and a column of the very finest type is 
devoted to a record of those who are " lost and 
found." 

An Heroic Old Woman. 

A young lady who escaped from the burning city, 
in the course of a graphic account of the great fire, 
tells the following : " Two blocks beyond where I 
lived in Halstead street lived an old German, an 
almost helpless cripple, whose sole support was his 
wife and young son. The latter went away in the 
morning and did not return. The fire rapidly ap- 
proached with deadly omen, and the old couple were 
not only distracted at the absence of the boy, but fear- 
ful of their possible fate. At last the flames came 
so near that they must fly or die. In the strength of 
her affection the old woman seized the poor cripple, 
placed him upon her back, and thus staggered 
along for a distance of two blocks, when some men 
placed him in a grocer's wagon and drew him to a 
place of safety." 

Coolness. 

Another writer says : " I met a friend on Tues- 
day, walking thoughtfully around with a piece of 
lead pipe. As I approached and saluted him he 
stopped, slapped the lead pipe down oh a brick wall, 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 225 

it smashed flat, and then said, ' Joe, that pipe's all I've 
got in the world, but I begin again to-morrow.' I 
met a man on the night of the fire who had lost 
first his store and then his handsome residence on 
Michigan avenue. He was lugging around a mar- 
ble mantel with the heavy sides attached. He 
laughed as he saw me, and remarked, ' That's all 
there is now; but I'm going to see if I can't find 
another and build a house to fit.' " 



Unfortunate Benevolence. 

An Iowan heard of the fire on Monday morning 
and took passage to Chicago to succor the family of 
his son, who was living there. At a wayside sta- 
tion not far from Chicago he heard that the water 
works were burned, and that there was a scarcity 
of water. Not being familiar with the geographical 
position, he purchased a cask and brought it full of 
water to Chicago. A philanthropic expressman 
charged him $50 dollars for carting that barrel 
to his son's residence. 



A Plucky Merchant. 

A Chicago merchant who was in New York when 
the great fire destroyed his store and stock of mer- 
chandise, at once bought a large invoice of sugars 
and syrups and started for home, telling his mer- 
chants that by the time the goods reached Chicago 



226 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION— CHICAGO : 

he would have his store rebuilt to receive them. 
He kept his word. On the 19th inst, he tele- 
graphed his New York friends : 

" We enter a new store to-morrow, made since 
the fire, and resume payment in full and at matu- 
rity." 

Fire Proof Buildings. 

Horace White, Esq., the Editor in Chief of the 
CJiicago Tribune, in an extremely interesting com- 
munication to the Cincinnati Commercial, thus 
clearly shows the reasons why the supposed fire proof 
buildings in the city succumbed to the flames. 

"The Post Office was lost by defective internal 
construction. There was hardly any wood work in 
it except furniture. The floors were of stone or 
clay tiles, the window-casing of iron, and all the 
outer doors iron. But then there were no interior 
walls, or next to none. In place of these were up- 
right iron columns and girders, these supporting 
iron beams, and these again furnishing the resting 
places for the brick arches which held the several 
floors. The building itself was surrounded on the 
four sides by streets, though one of these was narrow 
as Nassau street, New York. It had no point of 
contact with any other building. But the heat from 
the narrow street set the furniture on fire. This 
warped and sprung the great iron columns which 
supported the floors, and so the whole interior came 
down into the cellar. The Tribune building was 






ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 227 

constructed with a view to avoid this defect. There 
were no iron columns in the interior except where 
they were employed to give greater strength to the 
brick walls. Consequently the interior is nearly all 
standing, the two eight-cylinder presses uninjured 
to all appearance, except by the burning of the 
tapes and feed boards, the beautiful engines, whose 
noiseless strength I have so often admired, scarcely 
soiled, the boilers perfectly intact, and most wonder- 
ful of all, two or three barrels of printers' ink under 
the alley not burned or upset. For all this, the heat 
generated by a whole square of combustible, five- 
story buildings, of which the Tribune was one cor- 
ner, was greater than that of an ordinary blast fur- 
nace. It was more than sufficient to melt cast iron. 
Our brick walls were a great protection, but the 
exterior wall on the south side, eighteen inches thick, 
next to a wholesale stationery store, is bulged inward 
at one place near the bottom fully two inches. This 
was not enough to let the wall down, and as it was 
braced with iron beams all the way up it was kept 
from falling on our printing machinery. A small 
segment fell out of the front of the building on 
Madison street. This was caused by the weight of 
an immense iron safe belonging to the Charter Oak 
Life Insurance Company, which stood against a 
wall in the second story. The iron beams getting 
more or less displaced by the expansive power of 
the heat, the weight of the safe was brought to 
bear upon them with a leverage which pried a hole 
ten or fifteen feet wide out of the Madison street 



228 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO! 

front, and of course every thing which rested upon 
it came down. 

" These two buildings are types of all the so-called 
fire proof structures of the city, seven or eight in 
number. It is ascertained that no stone ever used 
in the business part of the city is worth a farthing 
in such a fire. Brick is the only thing that comes 
out whole, and is ready to try it again. The future 
Chicago will be a city of bricks. But it is not fair 
to say that an absolutely fire proof building cannot 
be erected. I think it can be. At all events, the 
architects of the world should come here and 
study." 

What a Determined Man did. 

The manner in which Mr. John G. Shortall, of 
the firm of Shortall & Hoard, saved their numerous 
abstracts and indices of real estate transactions, which 
in the destruction of the public records are invalu- 
able as evidences of title, shows what a determined 
man can do in an emergency. Mr. Shortall had 
returned from church to his home in the southern 
part of the city, and from some unaccountable 
impulse went down to the fire and watched it for 
an hour or more, when he began to fear that his 
office in Larmon block, opposite the court house, 
might be in danger. His own account of his expe- 
riences from this point on is as follows : 

"On reaching the office I found great danger 
existing from the awnings, which were outside the 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 229 

buildings, the embers dropping down very thick on 
the roofs of the buildings, and* on the front, and 
signs, and awnings. I ran up stairs, got into the 
office and tried to cut away the awnings in front of 
our building, and that of the building adjoining; 
but, owing to the absence of anything adequate, I 
had to give that up, and simply press them up close 
to the wall, that the embers might drop off them, 
and not be caught in them. Even then I scarcely 
believed it possible that the Larmon block could take 
fire, and I requested the men in the upper portion 
of the building, with buckets of water, to put out 
any embers that might fall there and endanger the 
building. In another half hour I felt more appre- 
hensive, and went in the street to find an express 
wagon. This must have been an hour and a half 
before the building actually burned. I stopped, 
probably fifteen different trucks and express wagons, 
offering them any pay to work for me in saving the 
books. Seven of them, at least, I engaged, one after 
another, they faithfully promising me that they would 
come back when they had carried the load and done 
the work in which they were engaged ; but no one 
came back. At this juncture, I met a friend, Mr. 
Nye, who was looking out, as I was, for the danger. 
I told him I needed him, and he answered me 
promptly that he was at my service. We both 
watched some time longer for express wagons ; but 
could find none. At last, when the court house 
cupola took fire, I told my friend that we must have 
an express wagon within the next five minutes or 



230 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO! 

we were utterly lost. He stood on Clark street and 
I on Washington, determined to take the first 
expressman we could find. The first one happened 
to come along on his side. He seized the reins with 
one hand ; and, taking a revolver from his pocket 
with the other, " persuaded" the expressman to haul 
up to the sidewalk, notwithstanding his cursing and 
swearing. When I came back from my unsuccessful 
watch, I found the expressman there, and my friend, 
handing the lines and revolver to me, went up stairs 
to help our employees, who were then in the office, 
to carry down the volumes. We got round with the 
wagon to Washington street entrance, and after 
filling the wagon, found that we had but about cne 
quarter of our property in it. 

" Just at that critical moment I saw a two horse 
truck drive up to where I was superintending the 
packing of the books, and my friend Joe Stockton, 
who was so covered with smut and dust that I did 
not recognize him until he spoke, turned over the 
truck and driver to me, with the remark, c I think, 
John, this is just the thing you want' I never felt 
so relieved or so thankful as I did at his appearance 
with that substantial aid at that moment. We 
unpacked our impressed expressman immediately 
and set him adrift with $5 in his pocket for his five 
minutes' work, and commenced to pile our property 
on friend Stockton's truck. Meanwhile the flames 
were roaring and surging around us. Six of our 
boys were carrying down the volumes as rapidly as 
they could, and I, standing on the truck, was stowing 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 231 

away the books economically as to space. About * 
that time they told me the court house bell fell clown. 
I lost all idea of time. It must have been about two 
o'clock. I never heard the bell fall, I was so excited. 
Toward the last, when we had got our indices all 
safely clown, and were trying to save other valuable 
papers and books, many of which we did save, it was 
stated that Smith & Nixon's building was about to 
be blown up. Our truck was headed toward that 
building. The sky was filled with burning embers 
which were falling around us thickly. As soon, I 
think, as the information was given that that building 
was to be blown up, the crowd rushed past us down 
Washington street, toward the lake, terribly excited, 
shouting and warning everybody away. My driver 
was very nervous, and on one pretext or another 
would start his horses up for a rod or two, swearing 
that he would not be blown up for us or for the whole 
country ; but I succeeded in stopping him eight or 
ten times during the terrible excitement. In the 
meantime our men were coming down the stairs 
laden with our property, and returning as rapidly 
as they could. I was standing on the books, packing 
them in the truck, and the embers were flying on 
them, and I picked them off as they fell and threw 
them into the street, until a rod at a time, we reached 
the corner of Dearborn and Washington. Messrs. 
Fuller and Handy were the last to leave the office, 
and they did not leave until Buck & Rayner's drug 
store was on fire. The store, as we believed, was 
full of chemicals and explosive matter. At that time 



232 TEE GREAT CONFLAGRATION - — CHICAGO: 

the court house was a mass of flames, our building 
was burning, and other buildings in the immediate 
vicinity were entirely destroyed. 

" Three of us then started with the truck for my 
house, which we reached about three o'clock that 
morning. I had our property unloaded and placed 
securely within ; and, after giving the driver and 
others some refreshments, I started again for the 
fire to see what aid I could give other sufferers. " 



A Fearful Trotting Match. 

On the morning of the fire occurred the most 
fearful trotting race on record. It was a race between 
the flames and Mr. Fred. Blackmar, with his brown 
mare " Kittle." Mr. Blackmar was a junior partner 
in one of the largest publishing houses in the city, 
and his little brown mare had won a reputation as 
one of the fastest roadsters in the city. A corre- 
spondent tells the story of the race as follows : 

" Kittie, who had become a well known equine 
to all those who frequented the boulevards, was 
stabled in a barn on Dearborn street, almost opposite 
the post office. The fire had eaten far into the heart 
of the city, and was rapidly swallowing building 
after building in its rapacious jaws. Southward and 
northward along famed Newspaper avenue, as Dear- 
born street was sometimes called, the fire was driven 
by the fierce gale, which swept in eddies from over 
the prairies. 







BURNING OF THE CENTRAL GRAIN ELEVATOR AT THE MOUTH OF THE CHICAGO R'VER. 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 235 

" Blackmar, who lived in the West Division, had 
gone down early in the fight to assist in saving prop- 
erty from the store, and it was not until late on 
Monday morning he thought of Brown Kittie. 
Then he started for the barn only to find the front 
of the building was one vast sheet of flame. No- 
where could he see the hostler. Through a back 
door he rushed into the stable, and there stood his 
pet shivering in every limb. With a cry of joy she 
recognized her master, and while he was unfastening 
her halter the grateful creature placed her nose 
against his face and gently rubbed his cheek. A 
moment later and the mare was hitched to the light 
road wagon, the back door was thrown open, Fred 
sprang into his seat, and while the burning hay 
dropped down upon him in fiery flakes he drove 
forth into a perfect hell of flame. There was a nar- 
row alley with buildings on fire on either side of it 
for him to drive through, and faster than Kittie ever 
went before went she through that gauntlet of flame. 
Once a tongue of flame reached across the alley and 
scorched poor Kittie's handsome mane, and almost 
burnt out one of her bright eyes, which were almost 
human in their expression, but Fred spoke gently 
to her, and with never a skip she went onward and 
onward across State street, and no chance to turn 
to the right or left, with buildings blazing up in front 
and Death with the double team crowding him 
closely in the rear. Now Wabash avenue was 
reached, and like lightning the little darling turned 
the corner and flew with the speed of thought south- 

14 



236 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

ward along the broad thoroughfare, whose western 
side was already one long row of flame. . With a 
straight road before him, perfectly level and laid 
with Nicholson pavement, Fred sent the mare faster 
and faster. Away off toward Jackson street he 
could see the black smoke and the red flames 
reaching across, trying to seize upon the opposite 
side of the way, and should they succeed before he 
passed the spot, then all escape was impossible. 
4 Gently, Kittie, gently!' They were the first words 
he had spoken for some time. 'Now, then my little 
lady,' and for the first time in all his life he touched 
her with the whip. The mare broke into a run, and 
there was no stopping her. Like a thoroughbred 
she sped before the wind, and almost in a trice she 
had cleared the fire and was still running desper- 
ately toward the southward. Presently Blackmar 
succeeded in pulling her down to a trot, and finally 
he jogged her along at a pace so slow no one would 
have supposed her the best little equine in all Chris- 
tendom." 



Fatal Leap for Life, 

Just north of Madison street, on the east side of 
Dearborn street, stood Speed's block, consisting of 
five four-story brick buildings, with stone fronts. 
The upper parts of the buildings were occupied as 
offices, and some of the occupants slept in the rooms. 
When the fire had reached Madison and Dearborn 
streets, from the west, a man, who had evidently 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 



237 



taken full time to dress himself, appeared at a 
window in the rear. He coolly looked down the 
thirty feet between him and the ground, while the 
excited crowd cried to him to "jump !" and then some 
of the more considerate searched for a ladder. No 
ladder could be had, but a long plank was found 
and placed at once against the window, and the 
man seating himself on it, slid safely to the ground. 
But before this was accomplished, another man ap- 
peared at a window of the fourth story, in the 
adjoining building; there was no projecting bal- 
cony — the wall was flush to the ground for the dis- 
tance of four stories and a basement. All escape 
by the interior was cut off — the building being 
then on fire within, and he looked out in seeming 
despair. The crowd was helpless, so far as doing 
anything for his rescue, and grew frantic in their 
excitement. From the Tribune office the whole 
scene was visible, lighted up by the blaze of a hun- 
dred buildings, and by the never-ceasing shower of 
fire. Senseless cries of "jump! jump!" went up 
from the crowd ; senseless, but full of sympathy, 
for the sight was absolutely agonizing. Then for a 
minute or two he disappeared, perhaps even less, 
but it seemed so long that the supposition was that 
he had fallen suffocated by smoke and heat; but 
no, he appears again. First he throws a bed, then 
some bed clothes apparently ; why, probably even 
he does not know. Again he looks down the dead, 
sheer wall of fifty feet below him. He hesitates, 
and well he may, as he turns again and looks behind 



238 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

him. Then he mounts to the window sill. His 
whole form appears, naked to the shirt, and his 
white limbs gleam against the dark wall in the 
bright light as he swings himself below the window. 
Somehow — how none can tell — he drops and catches 
upon the top of the windows below him, of the 
third story. He stoops and drops again, and seizes 
the frame with his hands, and his gleaming body 
once more straightens and hangs prone downward, 
and then drops instantly and accurately upon the 
window sill of the third story. A shout, more of 
joy than applause, goes up from the breathless 
crowd, and those who had turned away their heads, 
unable to look upon him as he seemed about to 
drop to sudden and certain death, glanced up at 
him once more with a ray of hope, at this daring 
and skilful feat. Into this window he crept, to 
look, possibly, for a stairway, but appeared again 
presently, for here was the only avenue of escape, 
desperate and hopeless as it was. Once more he 
dropped his body, hanging by his hands. The 
crowd screamed and waved to him to swing himself 
over to the projection from which the other man had 
just been rescued. He tried to do this, and vibrated 
like a pendulum from side to side, but could not 
reach far enough to throw himself upon its roof. 
Then he hung by one hand and looked down ; rais- 
ing the other hand, he took a fresh hold, and swung 
from side to side again to reach the roof. In vain; 
again he hung motionless by one hand, and slowly 
turned his head over his shoulder, and gazed in the 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 239 

abyss below him. Then, gathering himself up, he 
let go his hold, and for a second a gleam of white 
shot down 'full forty feet to the foundation of the 
basement. Of course, it killed him. He was taken 
to a drug store near by and died in ten minutes. 

Who this person was no one knows. What be- 
came of his remains has never been ascertained. 
The drug store to which he was taken was burned 
within a few hours after, and every other building 
for half a mile south, and it was impossible to carry 
the body, if taken away at all, in any other direc- 
tion. He had evidently been asleep, and was not 
awakened until the building was on fire. 

\ 

A Wedding Postponed. 

A wedding fixed for the week after the fire, was 
postponed by a letter of the lady to her lover, who 
was in an Eastern city. She was the daughter of a 
wealthy merchant, and in the letter after telling him 
of the fire, she wrote : 

" Our wedding will have to be postponed for at 
least one year, as I am in no condition at present to 
be married ; not that I love you less than ever, for 
you know that better than I can tell you, but that 
we have no house to live in and my father is rendered 
almost destitute by the fire. His place of business 
was, as you know, in the burnt district, and was 
swept away in company with a number of others the 
second night of the fire. We expect to have a new 
house built in a few weeks, just around the corner 



240 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

from where we formerly resided, near street 

and avenue. I am very glad you did not come 

to this city when you intended, for then you would 
be as the rest of us, half scared to death. Father 
was up at the time, and saved two suits of clothes — 
the one he had on and another — but we, that is, Mar, 
Jeneatte, and I, were less lucky. You would have 
been surprised to see me, the morning after we were 
driven out of the house, with a pair of Jim's old 
pants on, one slipper, one shoe, and a waterproof 
cloak. This was, indeed, my complete outfit, and it 
was not until yesterday that I received some other 
clothes from my cousin Mary, who sent them from 
Cincinnati. That would have made a splendid wed- 
ding suit, wouldn't it \ 

" The city is building up lively. Work is plenty, 
but a number of laborers have left this, the doomed 
city. 

"Frank, please come on and see us as soon as you 
can ; I want to see you very badly." 

It is not likely that Frank declined that invitation, 
or that he consented to postpone the wedding a year, 
or any longer than a new outfit could be pro- 
vided. Such a man would be out of place in a city 
which in three days after having been destroyed, 
was " building up lively," or worthy of the fair lady, 
who, notwithstanding she had no house to live in and 
her father was destitute, had time to note in her 
distress the cheering fact that " work was plenty." 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 241 

Unprofitable Servants. 

A prominent lady of Wabash avenue had been 
deserted by her servants as soon as it became cer- 
tain that the house was doomed; they had gone off, 
taking with them whatever they could lay their 
hands on. She, her daughter, and her invalid hus- 
band, were alone in the house, and the flames were 
rapidly approaching. There was not a moment to 
spare, and the two women actually carried away in 
their arms the sick man, and brought him in safety 
beyond the reach of the fire. 

Deep Grief. 

Men, driven by that blind instinct which makes 
them, though hopeless, return to the scene of that 
disaster which has ruined them, sought the spots 
where once their homes had stood, and sitting down 
on some pieces of fallen timber, actually wept and 
wrung their hands in anguish. 

One of these wretched beings sought his home, 
and, in stepping on a half-charred beam, caused it 
to spring up, and from beneath it came a sickly 
odor. He madly turned and pried away the timber, 
and saw beneath it the dead body of his son, a young 
man of about twenty years of age, who, probably 
returning to the house to save something he prized, 
had fallen in the flames and been burned to death 
— roasted alive. 

At another point a strong man sitting upon a 



242 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO I 

wayside box, weeping like a child, his wife mean- 
while cheerily boiling coffee with some bits of the 
unlaid Nicholson pavement, and his children play- 
ing hide and seek among the cast-out wares. 

The Children. 

The most pitiable sights were the sick children 
half dead, lying crouched on the sidewalks, in many 
cases with barely any covering on them. A pathetic 
scene was noticed on the corner of La Salle and 
Randolph streets, where two little girls were lying 
terror-stricken by the side of their dead sister, whose 
remains presented a harrowing spectacle. She had 
been too late to escape from under a falling build- 
ing on Clark street, and had been extricated and 
carried to the corner by her almost dead sisters. 

At the Tremont House the elevator became use- 
less, and the sleeping guests, with a large number 
of babies, hurried down stairs. The removal of 
trunks and the hurrying of domestics impeded the 
passageways. Several persons, in their eagerness, 
jumped over the banisters and limped away. Others 
in their haste left beneath their pillows, watches and 
money, only discovering their losses, when they had 
reached the Michigan Central Depot — then sup- 
posed to be a perfectly safe place. A crowd of per- 
sons hastened thither, some carrying beds, some 
sewing machines, and one lady had six canary birds 
in a cage in one hand, and an immense family Bible 
in the other. She said: "I was determined to 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 243 

bring these off, if I lost all the rest." Another 
young woman was seen carrying two large paintings, 
evidently those of her father and mother. She was 
but partially clad, and amongst all her household 
wealth, sought to preserve these filial mementos as 
being to her most precious. 

Tlxe Ludicrous. 

Several incidents combine the pathetic with the 
ridiculous. An Irish woman was seen tugging 
along a half grown pig, which kicked and squealed 
with all its might, until the panting female, over- 
come by the flames, abandoned the animal to its 
fate. A colored woman shouldered her week's wash- 
ing in a huge wicker-basket, and grabbed with the 
other hand a frying-pan and some muffin-rings. 
Huge cinders fell on the clean, starched clothes and 
set them smoking. In this way the woman, already 
half-beside herself with terror, trudged along for 
several blocks, until the burning rags fell upon her 
neck and caused her to look around. With a howl 
of dismay and an expression of horror that can never 
be reproduced, she dropped her burden and fled for 
dear life. An immense Dutchman trundled a wheel- 
barrow along, loaded with a keg of lager beer, some 
sausages and clothing. His wife and children fol- 
lowed, all laden with sundry articles, two dogs bring- 
ing up the rear. He toiled and puffed along until 
the approach of the flames rendered more rapid 
flight necessary. The wheelbarrow was then aban- 



244 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

doned, but not until the beer-keg was opened and a 
parting drink was taken all around. 

Tlirough the Tunnel. 

At 2 o'clock on Monday morning, the people were 
fleeing in desperate fury from the death fiend pur- 
suing in hot haste on flaming wings. The bridges 
on both sides were on fire, and the flames were 
writhing over the decks of the brigs in the river, 
and winding their fierce arms of flame around the 
masts and through the rigging, like a monstrous, 
luminous devil-fish. The awful canopy of fire drew 
down and closed over Water street, as the shrieking 
multitude rushed for the tunnel — the only avenue 
of escape. The gas works had already blown up, 
and there was no light in any house, save the illumi- 
nation, which flamed up only to destroy. But into 
the darkened cave rushed pell-mell, from all direc- 
tions, the frenzied crowd — bankers, thieves, dray- 
men, wives, children — in every stage of undress, as 
they had leaped from burning lodgings, a howling, 
imploring, cursing, praying, writhing mob, making 
their desperate dive under the river. It was as 
dark in the tunnel as it is in the centre of the earth, 
Hundreds of the fugitives were laden with furniture, 
household goods, utensils, loaves of bread and pieces 
of meat, and their rush through the almost suffocating 
tunnel was fearful in the extreme. They knocked 
each other down, and the strong trod on the help- 
less. Nothing was heard at the mouth of the 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 245 

cavernous prison, but a muffled howl of rage 
and anguish. Several came forth with broken 
limbs and terrible bruises, as they scattered and 
resumed their flight under the blazing sky to the 
North Ward. 



The Court House Bell, Chicago. 

The court house bell, which for so many years 
had given hourly warning of the flight of time 
rung forth joyous peals in honor of military and 
civil victories, told of the presence of fire in the 
city, and sounded the death toll of the distinguished 
dead, now lies an almost shapeless mass, surrounded 
by heaps of brick, mortar and stone, in the east 
wing of the court house. On the fatal Sunday night, 
the old bell, even while surrounded by fire, sounded 
a solemn, continuous and final peal ; and those who 
heard it above the din produced by falling walls, the 
hoarse roaring of the flames, the crackling of falling 
embers, and the shouts and screams of alarmed 
citizens, say they will never forget how awful the 
sound appeared. Scarcely had the bell cooled after 
the fire, when hundreds of curiosity hunters went 
in search of it, armed with cold chisels and hammers. 
As a consequence, about two-thirds of the metal has 
disappeared. Pieces of it have sold at high figures, 
while others have found their way by mail to neigh- 
boring cities, to be converted into rings, scarf pins, 
brooches, etc. 



246 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 



Labors of Love, 

Amidst all the ruins and sufferings there were 
many acts of love and charity to soften the hard 
fate that had fallen upon the people. Many noble- 
hearted ladies, bred to scenes of luxury and ease, 
went about doing good with a zest rivalled only by 
the energy of the men who resolved to rebuild their 
city and their manufactories. 

Grace Church, on Wabash avenue, is one of the 
few buildings left standing, and with a true Christian 
zeal the congregation turned it over to the Relief 
Committee, for such uses as were deemed necessary. 
Here, under the able management of the Eev. Dr. 
Locke, were groups of ladies, delicately reared, 
acting as the almoners of the world's rich bounty. 
Most of the people who thronged about the church 
had been fed quite exclusively, since the fire, on 
bread or crackers; the reception, therefore, of 
cooked meat, baked beans, and other plain condi- 
ments, was peculiarly acceptable. Porters were 
constantly entering, bearing in hats, aprons, pillow- 
cases, baskets and barrels, supplies of food, which 
were deposited in convenient places for distribution. 
Generally the applicants represented families or 
groups of friends, and though they solicited heavy 
supplies, there was, thanks to the benevolence of 
sister cities, a goodly portion for each. 

This latter class hastened away to the temporary 
lodgings, while others, who came for themselves, 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 247 

received their share,. and walking quietly from the 
church, ate their food on the street. 

There we saw Germans. Irish, Scandinavians, 
Jews, Italians, and representatives of other nations, 
laboring men and women, and children of all classes 
of life, now reduced by hunger and poverty to a 
common footing. 

While this ceremony was attracting the attention 
of the unfortunate in the church proper, the spa- 
cious chapel was filled by day with another party of 
ladies, working into sandwiches the fresh bread and 
sweet ham that had been received. These ladies 
were principally Sabbath school teachers and the 
daughters of leading citizens ; but their fine round 
arms were bared to the work, and they shaved and 
sliced as if their very lives depended on their activ- 
ity. In front of them filed a steady stream of little 
children, with empty stomachs and ragged clothes, who 
in regular turn received a hearty meal. These soon 
after disporting themselves amid the adjacent ruins. 

In the evening, however, we witnessed spectacles 
in the chapel of the church which seemed more 
touching than those of the day. As the sun went 
down, and the air grew chilly little squads of men 
and women, leading by the hand or bearing on the 
arm, babes and children, marched timidly to the 
porch, and asked permission to lie down during the 
night. Many of the benches had been removed, 
and on the bared portion, cushions were stretched, 
and the careworn visitors invited to make themselves 
as comfortable as possible. Here, during hours 



248 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

that appeared lengthened beyond measure, these 
distressed people endeavored to catch a few moments 
of repose. Some who had been vainly seeking 
shelter for many days, slumbered heavily; others 
groaned and started as delirious dreams grew in 
their brain; while here and there, babes uttered 
shrill cries for nourishment, and the sleep that came 
tardily to them. At all hours of the night pilgrims 
approached this Mecca, and by the time the sun 
glanced through the windows, one would have made 
slow progress in passing about the chapel. 

Reflections and Suggestions, 

Major D. C. Houston, of the Engineer Corps of 
the U. S. army, published the following interesting 
paper on the situation of Chicago. 

" The spirit displayed by the business men of this 
city in rebuilding is astonishing, and deserving of 
the highest praise after a calamity so terrible as the 
recent conflagration. That Chicago will rise again, 
and not only resume her old position, but become 
in time the first city on this continent, seems to me 
to be as certain as the perpetuation of our govern- 
ment and the increase of our population. 

" It should be borne in mind at this time, that 
there were certain defects in the plan of Chicago, 
arising from the rapidity of its construction, which 
seemed beyond remedy, except at enormous cost; 
but now it is possible, by considering the subject in 
time, and taking advantage of the experience of 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 249 

other cities, to make such re-arrangements as will 
make the plan and accommodations of this city 
suitable for the metropolis of America. 

" The present burnt district, on the south side, is, 
by universal consent, to become the centre of the 
city, and every consideration indicates that it should 
be so. Were the whole city to be laid out anew, 
the natural features of the country and the railroad 
communications would point to the south side as 
the centre. The business operations will commence 
here, and radiate, as heretofore, to the south, west, 
and north, but more to the south, owing to the fact 
that the communication is uninterrupted by natural 
obstacles. Into this centre hundreds of thousands of 
people will pour daily, coming from the residence por- 
tion of the city, the suburbs, and the whole country. 

" There is always, in great cities, an immense 
amount of time lost in going to and fro from busi- 
ness, and in the absence of proper accommodations 
for doing business, after the business centre is 
reached. Persons familiar with the city of New 
York understand this fully. Two or three hours of 
the day are consumed in travelling to and fro, and, 
owing to the crowds in the streets, the contracted 
markets and places of exchange, the time required 
to transact business is doubled and trebled. 

M Now the points which seem to me to be consid- 
ered at this time and to be fully provided for, are : 

" 1. The laying out of certain lines for steam 
communication from the centre of business to the 
suburbs, to be so arranged as not to obstruct the 



250 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO*. 

street travel, or be interrupted by it. This most 
essential element of a modern metropolis can never 
be secured or arranged for, so well as at present. 

" 2. The arrangement of commodious and central 
depots for the great lines of railroads centring in 
the city. 

" 3. A commodious levee alons: the river for 
public docks, a grand market, a grand plaza, where 
all can go without paying tribute. Instead of having 
buildings built close down to the river bank, let 
there be an open space on each side of the river 
devoted to the above purposes. 

"4. The great leading lines of business should 
be consolidated or concentrated on certain streets 
running north and south. There should be a finan- 
cial centre, a dry goods centre, a hardware centre, 
etc. 

" 5. An open square for public meetings and out- 
door business. The Court House square . suggests 
itself at once. Let the court house go further 
south and leave the present square open. 

" Let it be surrounded by banks, brokers' offices, 
etc., and there will be room for everybody. These 
suggestions are hurriedly thrown out, but they 
should be considered, and a committee representing 
all interests, should be appointed to draw up a 
scheme by which these desirable results can be 
secured. In the rebuilding of the city these mat- 
ters can all be arranged for the benefit of all. 

"The business portion of Chicago had already 
become overcrowded with the street cars, omnibuses, 




MASONIC TEMPLE, DEARBORN STREET. 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 253 

other vehicles, and foot passengers. The limit of 
capacity had almost been reached. 

" You believe in Chicago's future, and a few- 
minutes' reflection will convince any one that more 
space is needed for the future, and that concentra- 
tion and co-operation on the part of business men 
is necessary, to make the best use of the ground 
now available." 

After the Fire. 

On Friday, October 15th, 1871, people had so 
collected themselves as to remember the ludicrous 
scenes which occurred around them in the awful 
hours of the burning. Then were called to mind 
the man who fled with a single joint of stove-pipe 
under his arm and left his papers to the flames ; and 
the other man, who, abandoning his pictures escaped 
with a feather dusting broom ; and that tenderer 
picture of the little girl who passed up Michigan 
avenue, barefooted and bareheaded, struggling under 
the weight of a box containing four new-born pup- 
pies. An eye-witness told us of the attempt to blow 
up the building occupied by a clothing establish- 
ment, Brown & Hammond's, if I am not mistaken. 
By some accident the fuse did not communicate with 
the powder in^nded to do the work. Just after 
the fuse had gone off, four thieves issued from the 
building and deliberately walked away with their 
arms full of clothing. Among the stories of extor- 
tion, we have heard this one. An undertaker with 

15 



254 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

a hearse attempted to charge fifteen dollars for con- 
veying a coffin from the burnt district over on to the 
west side, and the corpse put his head out and re- 
monstrated. An enterprising Chicagoan, it appears, 
had formed a plan of getting across the river at a 
reasonable rate ; and so terrified was the undertaker 
that the ruse succeeded beyond expectation. The 
coffin was " dumped out " at its destination, and the 
driver of the hearse never waited for any pay at all. 

Saturday after the fire a rain-storm set in, fol- 
lowed by a terrific gale at sunset. All night long 
the trees under our window rocked and wailed. 
There can have been little sleep in the city until to- 
ward morning, when the wind abated. Some of the 
most picturesque, and at the same time the most 
dangerous, of the ruins were blown down. Sunday 
opened a bright, cool day. The burnt districts were 
early thronged with people in carriages, express- 
wagons, omnibuses, and on foot. Every one, with 
scarcely an exception, that I can remember, had a 
clean, washed-up appearance. It must be that the 
poorer sufferers by the fire did not visit the ruins on 
Sunday, or else the charity of the outside world has 
been swift to clothe and cleanse them. So admir- 
able, indeed, have been the arrangements of the 
relief committees, that one has to go to the churches 
or other place of refuge for the homeless, to come 
face to face with positive suffering. 

The churches were thronged on this Sabbath 
morning. Denominations and creeds were forgotten. 
Societies whose regular places of worship had been 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 255 

burned, met and were cordially received at the 
churches yet standing. In some instances services 
were held in the open air, in front of the ruined 
sanctuaries. Just outside of what was once his 
church, Robert Collyer is said to have spoken as 
only he can speak. We could not get there until 
the afternoon, when the neighborhood was almost 
deserted. We were fortunate enough, however, to 
be present at the services in front of one of the 
Methodist churches. Nothing in modern times, I 
think, has come so near to primitive Christianity in 
circumstance and spirit, as this preaching of mutual 
helpfulness in the face of universal loss and in that 
desert of ruins. 

Chicago by Moonlight. 

Only the moon, just rising in the east, casts an 
uncertain lustre over the scene. The busy men 
are gone. Nothing is heard but the steady footfall 
of the patrolman, or the quicker steps of some one 
hurrying to reach his home. The ruined wall and 
shattered masonry are softened and refined by the 
clear, mild light. Dark nooks and deeply-shaded 
recesses, which by daylight would lose their secrecy, 
and be nothing but waste blanks, are in the even- 
ing full of the charm of mystery and of darkness. 
Fancy peoples those secluded spots with the crea- 
tures of her imagination, and they seem fitting 
homes for ghoul and afrit — creatures who lurk 
among the ruined tombs and devour the belated 
wanderers there. The long, black lines of pave- 



256 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION CHICAGO*. 

ment stretch out into the infinite dim distance as if 
they led to the quiet homes of the dead. Here 
and there the vast bulk of undestroyed buildings 
tower up, silent and uninhabited, like the watch- 
towers which Vathek saw at Istakhnr. Through 
their open windows streams the moonlight, and half 
hides and half reveals the fallen walls and shattered 
floors within. There are inscriptions on them, but 
it is too dark to spell out the names of supervisors 
who tried to secure immortality, and have passed 
successfully through this ordeal of fire. 

In this indefinite light all things are old, and all 
things are strange. It is no longer Chicago, the 
sky above is clear and starry enough to look upon 
the Rhine and Arno, instead of the Chicago river. 
Telegraph posts are transfigured into burned and 
branchless trees, and in this blue land of supreme 
fancy, the prosaic and the commonplace have dis- 
appeared forever. There are slight, faint sounds, 
which may be the imagined voices of the night, or 
the pulsations of the lake, or the sighing of the 
wind; but there is no hum of myriads, no many- 
voiced utterances of men. 

Yonder, burnt and bruised and blackened, stands 
the church, its pealing organ stilled forever. 
Through its gaping portals no more wedding parties 
shall pass. It has buried its last dead, and there it 
remains its own monument. Those who have been 
baptized there are scattered far and wide, and have 
forgotten the font over which they were once held. 
The young men vho, in the intoxication of fm't 

/ 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 257 

love, followed their sweethearts there, and endured 
the sermon for the sake of being near the beloved, 
have outlived the passionate ardor of them, and will 
not regret the ruined sanctuary, which, to them, was 
the temple of Cupid, and not of Jehovah. The 
light glancing through the wide window, falls full 
upon the untouched memorial of marble. All the 
artificial aid to devotion, the cushioned pews, the 
soft foot stools, the elegantly bound books, have dis- 
appeared, but it remains, unmoved, while all around 
is in ruins. The monuments of the dead outlast by 
far the homes of the living. Here there is no feel- 
ing of newness. It might be a page taken from 
middle age history. Cowled and girdled monks, or 
corpulent friars, might have dwelt there, and the 
odor that one perceives might be a reminiscence of 
frankincense and myrrh, consumed in swinging 
censers, rather than that peouliar smell which fol- 
lows a fire. It is so dark that one cannot see the 
ivy on the walls, but one knows that it is there, and 
if it were not so hackneyed, one would be apt to 
quote certain lines concerning Melrose Abbey. But 
on such occasions people do not express their feel- 
ings in the words of another. They do not seek to 
express them at all, but float along idly, borne by 
the current of their thoughts, like a boat drifting 
on the bosom of the river. 

At another point one can faintly distinguish 
twisted and distorted iron beams, half covering and 
half covered by massive blocks of stone. There 
they lie, in one chaotic mass, dumb witnesses 



258 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

of some terrible conflict. By the light of day 
we could tell how recent had been their over- 
throw; but now, by the uncertain beams of the 
moon, we cannot tell but what they are as venerable 
as the world itself, and sitting there, we can recon- 
struct them as we will. Story by story rises the 
airy pile. Bright lights gleam from its windows, 
and strains of music mingle with the tread of the 
feet that cross its marble floors. But the flickering 
flame, still fitfully burning in the centre of the ruins, 
suddenly dies out, and the lights disappear, and the 
building goes down as suddenly as it rose; and with 
it, the guests that thronged its halls. Beyond it is 
something that was once a pile of wheat. Now it is 
a hill which dwarfs those in Lincoln Park, and from 
its sides come intermittent jets of fire and smoke. 
Were it only higher, then imagination could easily 
convert it into a new Vesuvius. Its flames serve to 
light up the building beyond, ancj^ cast a dim, un- 
certain glare upon the river, a rival of the light- 
house, and an unsafe guide for sailors. 

It is a great pity, for purely artistic reasons, that 
there are not more walls standing. These poor 
half-story remnants have not half the pathos of a 
building, which, destroyed within, still upr ears itself 
and bids defiance to fate. It is a blind Samson, but 
a Samson still powerful for good or evil ; and the 
architect will come along in the morning, and will 
scan the vast, though scarred proportions, and will 
dose him with bricks and mortar, and whitewash 
him, and restore his flowing locks — to wit, put a 



ITS PAST, FRESENT AND FUTURE. 259 

Mansard roof on him, and he will look about as 
good as new, though the traces of the wounds are 
still visible, if you only know where to look for 
them ; or else the Fire Marshal will order the walls 
to come down, and, in the act of doing it, two or 
three Philistines will be slain, and th? coroner will 
be called upon to hold an inquest, and will find a 
difficulty in doing so, since the county is too poor to 
pay twenty-five cents per head to jurymen, and 
there are no more inducements to accept the posi- 
tion. For office seeking is at an end for the moment, 
and when the court house was burned, more than 
half the candidates promptly withdrew. To these 
buildings, thus left partly standing, there is a won. 
derful expression, varying with their condition. 
There are those which seem to implore, and those 
which seem to threaten. Some are weary of the 
contest with fortune, while others are still obdurate, 
and unwilling to give way; but about these odds 
and ends of brick and mortar there is no expression 
whatever. No life remains in them, and nothing 
can lend them the power to charm. But the eye 
lingers fondly over hanging cornices and projecting 
pinnacles, one moment bright with the moon, and 
then shading away into darkness. 

Over to the left there is nothing. There no walls 
remain, and the eye can distinguish nothing but a 
succession of slight hollows and slight elevations. 
It might have been anything — a water-washed field, 
or a space of ground, on which had been de- 
posited dust heaps or the refuse of a furnace. 



260 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION CHICAGO: 

Beyond that lies a black chasm where the river 
flows, and as one gets nearer, the gleam of the 
moonlight upon the waves at once changes the char- 
acter of the scene. Then there was a dark abyss, 
beyond which grimly rose a long vista of half- 
destroyed and threatening walls. Now, the glancing 
and sparkling waters have dispelled the loneliness 
and wildness of the spot. For who can feel solitary 
when he is near a stream that is pure enough to 
mirror the firmament in its bosom, and whose slight, 
inarticulate noises furnish him company, and invite 
him, like the song of the sirens, to come nigher and 
nigher ] While the brook is a child, with which 
one laughs and babbles, the river is a full-grown 
man, wherewith we can hold reasonable converse, 
and wherefrom we can gain rare information, to be 
found nowhere else. For a moment the moon is 
eclipsed, and the powers of night have fully resumed 
their control. By the dim starlight, one can see 
only the vaguely outlined forms of objects near at 
hand. The river has gone from sight, and the 
buildings beyond are swallowed up in the darkness. 
Far away are the blazing coal heaps, burning up 
like mimic volcanoes, and farther yet, the gas lamps 
of the west side ; but they seem infinitely remote, 
and on the verge of the horizon of the night. All 
other sights, all sounds, have died away, and there 
remains only a sense of desolation and ruin, so 
great and terrible that one can linger no longer, but 
gropes his way as best he can back to the light, and 
the homes of men. 






ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 261 



TJie Spine of Cliicago, 

A son of Mayor Mason was engaged in the stove 
business and was at Troy, New York, at the time 
of the fire, he returned to Chicago, arriving Tues- 
day morning. The Troy Times tells what he did in 
view of the calamity : 

" He is a young man and just commenced busi- 
ness life. Married a little over a year ago, he was 
established in a prosperous stove trade, and had just 
completed a new house for himself and wife. Every- 
thing was swept away, except his wedding presents, 
which were at the house of his father. This house 
was saved. The fires were hardly out before young 
Mason gathered these presents together and started 
with them for New York. He sold them to Tiffany 
& Co. for $5,000 With this money he will now 
re-establish himself, opening a store, at present, in 
the basement of his father's elegant residence. A 
car load of stoves was shipped to him on Saturday. 
The young man shows the real Cliicago pluck." 

Another instance is shown in the following dis- 
patch of a merchant whose wife and family were in 
New York. The telegraph was not in operation 
until Tuesday, when among the first business was 
the following : 

" Mrs. , 



Hotel, N. York. 



" Store and contents, dwelling and everything lost. 
Insurance worthless. See , immediately; tell 



262 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

him to buy all the coffee he can get and ship it this 
afternoon by express. Don't cry." 



Wanted to see the Ruins. 

The following story is said to be literally true, 
and serves to explain how the dashing enterprise of 
this city is appreciated in the rival cities : 

At the East St. Louis depot on last Monday eve- 
ning, considerable confusion occurred among the 
passengers who were boarding the passenger train 
for Chicago, by an individual, carpet-bag in hand, 
and very much excited, shoving and pushing the 
crowd in his desperate efforts to reach the cars. 
He crowded aside and elbowed men, women, and 
children, making a nuisance of himself generally. 
Finally a gentleman whose ribs had been crushed 
by the excited man's elbows, and his temper ruffled 
by the unceremonious manner in which he had been 
bustled, inquired in sharp tones : 

" What the devil is the matter with you, old 
fellow r 

Individual in a hurry. " Must get that train." 

Other Man. ft Well, there is plenty of time — 
the train does not start for ten minutes; and, 
besides, there are several other people here who 
want that train." 

Excited Individual. " I must »get that train, and 
that's fixed. I'll get that train if it costs me my 
life." 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 263 

Other Man. " What in h — 1 is the necessity of 
your reaching Chicago by this train, anyway]" 

Man in a Barry. "I must get to Chicago to-mor- 
row on this train, or those people up there will have 

built up the whole d d town again, and I won't 

see them ruins !" 



ANOTHER. 

On the Monday morning of the fire, at about 6 
o'clock, at which hour the Tribune Building was 
considered safe, and the people began flocking into 
Dearborn street, a man was observed carefully 
examining the bricks of the ruins of Keynolds' 
Block, picking them up carefully and " feeling" 
them. 

An observer asked him to explain his conduct, 
when he replied : 

" I was just seeing if they were cool enough to 
build with again !" 



Announcements. 

Following the fire, the sense of ruin and pros- 
tration soon gave way to that other spirit which 
makes the I est of every thing. During Wednesday, 
and the few days that followed, boards were stuck 
by each man amid the ruins of his place of business 
with a sign, stating where he would be found " i ntil 
this building can be rebuilt." Some of the signs 



264 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION CHICAGO: 

were facetious. One of them by a real estate dealer 
read: — "Everything lost but wife, baby and energy. 
Office, No. Canal street." 

Wood's Museum was wholly destroyed, and con- 
spicuously upon the bricks was placed a sign, in- 
scribed : 



"COL. 


WOOD'S MUSEUM. 


Standing 


ROOM ONLY. 






E. MARSH, 






Treasurer." 



Another sign read : 

" Owing to circumstances over which ive have no 
control, we have removed" 

Carl Pretzel, the publisher of the broken English- 
German Magazine, had upon the ruins of his place 
of business this legend : 

" Carl Pretzel, gon avay." 

A Mournful Case. 

One of the numerous correspondents of Eastern 
papers, writing from this city, relates the following 
incident, which is substantially true : 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 265 

" But by far the saddest case here was that of a 
beautiful and refined woman, known, I understand, 
in art and operatic circles, whose husband is missing, 
and who escaped herself in only a night-wrapper, 
was driven to distraction by the terrors of the wild 
flight, and was picked up in Lincoln Park in a 
state of more than half insanity. In the direst 
need of care from her own sex, ready to die, almost, 
from extreme exhaustion, and wandering in mind 
most of the time, she had received last night only 
the nursing and help which two men could give, 
and now lay on a pallet upon the church floor, 
directly behind the rear pew on one side. 

" A young woman cared for her during the day, 
but at night female imagination lent partial in- 
sanity too great terrors, and care which should have 
fallen to womanly sympathy devolved on the rude 
though kind and skilled hands of men. The man 
whose brave and clear head gave him chief charge 
had had experience in a hospital ; but it was pitiful 
that womanly protection should not be at hand, and 
that the couch of such a sufferer should not be ten- 
derly spread under a private roof. Unhappily, the 
entire length of burnt Chicago intervened between 
all these sufferers, on the north side, and that part 
of the city where suitable care could have been 
secured for them." 

This accomplished lady was carried from her resi- 
dence in delicate health, and eventually found 
refuge in a German Lutheran Church, spared by 
the fire, several miles from her residence. A gen- 



266 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

tleman residing in that neighborhood discovered her 
among the destitute, who had tied to the building 
for shelter. He carried her to his own house, 
where she had every care and attention that kind- 
ness and skill could provide. But all was unavail- 
ing. On Sunday morning she died. The shock to 
her mental faculties had been too severe, and kind- 
ness and care had come too late. Her husband was 
not at home when the fire attacked her residence, 
nor did he find her until Thursday. This lady be- 
longed to a gifted family — one historically identified 
with the opera in the United States. 



Mrs. Lander. 

The accomplished Mrs. Lander, who was stopping 
at the Sherman House on the night of the fire, 
was forced to fly. She procured the assistance of a 
friend, and together they dragged or carried a 
couple of trunks from the burning hotel, and a few 
hours later, found a safe resting place a mile dis- 
tant. In a letter to a lady friend, written on the 
Sunday after the fire, she thus sketches the dread- 
ful night, and gives an exposition of the indomita- 
ble energy of the people of the city : 

" My Dear Friend : 

A word from me, with an assurance of my 
mother's and my own safety, will perhaps be wel- 
come. In the hurry of the alarm, at the dead of 
night, the sparks and flakes of fire, thicker than 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 267 

the heaviest flakes of an Eastern snow-storm, cared 
for by an entire stranger, we escaped to the shelter 
of a friend's roof, a mile beyond, where at last the 
fire was checked; and now a week has passed, yet 
our nerves are not quieted. Constant alarms of 
fresh fires keep us anxious and excited. Every 
block provides its own patrol guard. Every passerby, 
after nightfall, is stopped and questioned, such 
is the dread of incendiarism. We have no gas, 
but none is needed ; the immense piles of grain 
(2,"<00,()00 bushels) in what were the limits of 
great grain elevators, and the heaps of coal in the 
storeyards, the smaller heaps in each coal cellar, 
with their respective yellow and blue flames re- 
flected in the clouds over the burned and unhurried 
streets, light with a fearful red glare, suggesting, 
where the clouds hang low and heavy, new cause 
for alarm. 

" Think ! Four square miles of thickly populated, 
and on the business side, densely-built streets. 
First the business offices of the great merchants 
of this great electric business-mart, then their 
luxurious homes on the north side, homes in which 
treasures of the Old World were collected, pic- 
tures, sculpture, books, and gems, combined with 
the workmanship and products of the New World ; 
costly carving, rich furniture, carriages, horses — the 
estimate in all cannot fall short of one thousand 
millions — all swept away by the accidental overturn 
of a lamp in a little Bohemian shanty or cow-shed. 
It seems inconceivable how the fire could at first 



268 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO! 

have been fed. Amid low one or two-story build- 
ings, through two blocks on the west side, it began, 
the wind helping from the southwest. It scorched, 
but left the larger buildings to return when rein- 
forced by flames from the bridge and shipping, and 
lumber and coal yards. Then the big flakes of fire 
and flame crossed the river, taking a diagonal course 
over the south side, seizing all in its way to the 
court house, passing the new Pacific Hotel (nearly 
finished), and sweeping the Sherman House and all 
between the square and the river. Crossing the 
street, the whirlwind of flame drew into its circle 
block after block to the right. Hooley's Opera 
House to Dearborn street, First National Bank, 
showered its flakes on the Tremont House, followed 
on to the Illinois Central depot and the lake, seizing 
on the lower end of State street and Wabash and 
Michigan avenues. Then came the marvel: in the 
teeth of a hurricane of wind, the fire-fiend ate its 
way in great swirls of flame backward, where people 
had rested and goods were heaped to the windward 
' of all harm.' It pushed back and back, until 
men, women and children, the sick and the aged, 
teams, carriages drawn by horses or men, ladon 
down with goods, were fleeing away, many nevi*r 
stopping until the southern limits of the city were 
reached. Wild rumors of the rapidity of the con- 
ing flames caused doubt a mile from the fire. At 
last, by trusting to Sheridan, and blowing up a few 
insignificant buildings, the scourge was stopped to 
the south. But, in the meantime, what had it done 




CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND COURT-HOUSE. 




POST-OFFICE AND CUSTOM-HOUSE. 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 271 

north % While the men had been fighting the 
flames round their business houses, and the few, 
comparatively few, houses of their friends, the flames 
had recrossed the river, burning away all the 
bridges, forming impassable volcanoes of fire to their 
homes, surprising, in many instances the unguarded 
inmates. If at the south the horror was felt, it 
yielded in all respects to the terrors of the north 
side of the city ; here it was striven against — there 
it revelled unchecked. 

" Nothing but the destruction of Pompeii can out- 
line the savageness and rapidity of its career. It fed 
on everything — the Nicholson pavement of the 
streets, the sidewalks, the fences; for example, one 
instance in many, a lady and her children took 
refuge four times, and four times that flaming sword 
pointed "onward!" until she found shelterless safety, 
with hundreds of others, five miles from home, on 
the open prairie, where they passed the fearful 
night. Others were surrounded by the fire and 
rushed into the lake, where, by plunging under the 
water as the heat became unbearable, they saved 
their own and children's lives. Again, delicate 
women fled along the streets, their footsteps licked 
by the dogging flames, igniting their hastily- donned 
clothing. A cry ! a stop ! and the fire is put out by 
some friendly hand ; that brief stop is almost fatal, 
and the utmost speed is needed to regain lost ground 
in this race for life. Into the old graveyard — over 
the graves of the dead — fled the living, as through 
the dry grass and over the fences and trees crept or 

16 



272 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO I 

leaped their enemy, beyond all houses, into Lincoln 
Park, on to the barren lake shore ; and there, ex- 
hausted, they sank thankful on the sand. 

" But in this struggle what became of the weak, 
sick and infirm among the thousands of families 
. turned out on that pitiless night, separated, and 
lost — how many forever in time 1 Weeks must be 
past before the sad list can be completed. What 
stayed the fire on that side God knows. 

" And now, after this visitation — in which court 
house, churches, water works, gas house, depots, 
hotels, theatres, post office, telegraph, wholesale 
and retail stores, grain elevators, breweries and over 
30,000 houses were destroyed, and 150,000 people 
left homeless — see the hopefulness, energy, and 
cheerful determination of everybody. Men have 
sketched plans for their new buildings by the light 
of the element destroying their old ones. No 
despondency, even with a conviction of bankrupt 
insurance companies staring them in the face. Even 
the most sanguine repudiate the idea of insurance 
money for destruction on so large a scale ; and 
imagine how their hearts warmed and throbbed 
when communication with the outer world was 
re-established, when the sympathy and aid of the 
whole nation — the whole world — was theirs. The 
first telegram flashed over the restored wires from 
St. Louis was followed by others from city after 
city; before the fires had ceased raging, trains laden 
with food and clothing arrived, and now relief is 
pouring in a steady stream. 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 273 

" To-morrow morning at 1 o'clock all the banks 
resume business. Insurance offices are ready to pay 
all demands, the ruins are being cleared off, a hun- 
dred wooden buildings are already a story high for 
temporary use ; on Thursday water is promised, in 
a week gas ; and while the city will be rebuilt, the 
Chicago Aid and Relief Society will supply shelter 
in wooden barricks, and administer to the needy 
and sick the funds so lavishly bestowed.." 



Escape and Death, 

The clearing away of the debris has disclosed the 
fact that the loss of life has been much greater than 
was supposed. Nothing but business blocks have 
yet been searched, and the number of bodies found 
exceed 300. When the sites of the many thousand 
of dwellings shall be explored, the additions to this 
number, it is now feared, will be astounding. Recent 
facts disclose the tragic end of a well known citizen, 
the particulars of which are in themselves but the 
history of hundreds of cases. 

Mr. John E. Donovan removed to Chicago some 
years ago from Sauk county, Wisconsin, where he 
had served as sheriff of the county, and where he 
was well known. In this city he had for several 
years been known as the lessee of Pope's Block, 
adjoining the new Open Board Building. At the 
time of the fire he was stopping with his wife and 
child (a little girl about two years old) in the Po>t 
Office Block, on the corner of Dearborn and Mon- 



274 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO*. 

roe streets, east of the post office. During Sunday 
night Mr. Donovan had watched the burning of the 
main portion of the business centre of the city; had 
witnessed the burning of Pope's Block, Farwell 
Hall, Board of Trade, Court House, Sherman House, 
etc., having in his own mind concluded that the 
Post Office Block would not burn. But in the 
morning the fire had assumed such a shape that it 
at once became apparent that the block could not be 
saved. He then removed his wife and child to a 
place of safety on the corner of State and Monroe 
streets, while he returned to his room to secure some 
papers. What followed will appear from the fol- 
lowing letter from Mrs. Ackley, the last person, so 
far as is known, who saw Mr. Donovan : 

Wyoming, Jones County, Iowa, 

November 19, 1871. 
Mrs. Donovan : Bear Madam : — I regret that 
your letter was not received sooner, I sympathize 
with you, and would be glad to give you something 
definite regarding your husband if possible. All I 
can say is that, just before the building burned, I 
went up to my room, leaving my son Jesse on State 
street to watch my trunks. In a few minutes a 
man came up and told me to leave the building 
immediately, saying, " Those old stables are all on 
fire." I supposed he meant those wooden buildings 
in the rear of the block, but looking out I saw no 
fire, and did not think be meant the buildings oppo- 
site, on Monroe street I then stepped into your 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 275 

room, No. 29, seeing Mr. Donovan there, and said 
to him, " that man is more scared than hurt," to 
which he replied, " that is just what /think — I 
don't see any fire." The man, speaking as he did, 
using the word " stables," is what deceived Mr. 
Donovan, as well as myself. This is all the conver- 
sation I had with him. I cannot tell positively 
whether he had anything in his hands or not — he 
was standing or walking in about the middle of the 
room. I saw him no more. On going to my room 
my boy came running in perfectly wild with fright, 
saying, " Mother, you will be burned alive here !" 
We ran down the Monroe street stairway ; in the 
excitement I never thought to stop at your room 
and ought to have called to Mr. Donovan, but you 
know how it is at such times. We ran to The 
Tribune corner, and found ourselves in a situation 
where suffocation seemed inevitable. When we 
went on Monroe street it was black with smoke. 
Jesse says it was when he came up, and he says he 
did not see any one either in the building nor in 
street. I did not see any one. I did not think of 
anything but being burned alive. The fire was 
coming on us from the opposite side of Monroe 
street. I cannot tell whether our building was then 
on fire, but Jesse said : " We caimot go to the trunks 
— we must go down Dearborn street." It was hot 
on the street. We kept on our side of Monroe 
street, ran around the corner, and down the east 
side of Dearborn street until we reached The 
Tribune office. Jesse says he looked back when in 



276 



THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO 






range of McVicker's Theatre, and he says (but you 
must not rely too much on it) that he thinks that 
the Post Office Block was then on fire — at least, he 
says, there was a fearful body of fire back of us. I 
cannot remember as well as he can. The only way 
of escape for us from The Tribune corner was along 
Madison street to the Madison street bridge. This 
was a fearful journey — beyond description. All this 
distance, of about seven blocks, had just been burned 
down, and the smoke and heat and wind, and some- 
times the flames, were terrible. I saw no one but 
men, and their faces were as white as this paper. I 
do not give up easy, but if a gentleman, escaping the 
same way had not helped me, I should never have 
got over the hot piles of brick burning my feet, and 
the hot coiled telegraph wires tripping me at every 
step. I lost everything but the clothes I wore. Mrs. 
Donovan, my heart aches for you ! I presume this 
letter does not contain one grain of anything satis- 
factory; if you do find your husband, please write 
to me the particulars. 

Very truly, 

Mrs. Ackley. 



Nothing further was known concerning the fate 
of Mr. Donovan until Saturday, November 18th, 
when the workmen in The Tribune Building found 
the remains of two men. Their bodies lay under 
the pavement, on the north side of the building, and 
about thirty feet east of Dearborn street. About 
five feet from the door which led into this "News 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 277 

boys' room," lay the body of Joseph P. Stubbs, a 
young man who had recently come to the city, and 
who was associate editor of one of our daily papers 
at the time of his death ; and beyond him, about ten 
feet to the east, was found the body of John E. 
Donovan. Both men were found with their heads 
to the east, their hair burned, features destroyed, 
and limbs consumed. The broken pavement fell 
on these bodies, and the watch taken from Mr. 
Donovan's pocket was crushed, and stopped at 18 
minutes to 10. Under this pavement then, these 
men had been driven for safety — where, doubtless, 
they were secure, until the expanding of the iron 
joists caused the north wall of The Tribune 
Building to fall, crushing them instantly. 

Mr. Donovan was held in high esteem by all who 
knew him. A friend informs us that he often heard 
him express his confidence that The Tribune 
Building needed no insurance, because it could not 
be destroyed by fire. Driven to the corner of Dear- 
born and Madison streets, as he must have been 
very soon after Mrs. Ackley's escape, in that awful 
moment he chose the protection of this building to 
the desperate chance through burning ruins for the 
distance of more than half a mile. 

TJie Petroleum Stone. 

Since the fire there have been numerous publica- 
tions of a statement to the effect that a large pro- 
portion of the stone used in building in Chicago 



278 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

was charged with petroleum ; that this exuding 
from the stone presented an inviting material to the 
fire, and that the sudden wreck of the buildings 
was occasioned by the consumption of this inflam- 
mable petroleum stone. A writer in Chambers' 
Journal of Science relates that an immense deposit 
of this kind of stone lies within a few miles of 
Chicago, and that the quantity of ore contained in 
a few square yards of the rock is great. This para- 
graph in Chambers, has been made the most of 
by the sensationalists. A city bu'lt of stone from 
which petroleum is forever exuding ! It would be 
a marvel, if true ; it would be intensely disagreeable 
if the fact was as stated, and it would be an admira- 
bly devised means of spreading fire from house to 
house. Now for the facts. 

The stone used in building in the city was mainly 
what is known as Athens, or Illinois marble. It is 
found in large quantities between this city and 
Joliet, and large quarries have been opened along 
the canal. This stone is used for ordinary walls, 
for curbing, for flagging for sidewalks, and for the 
polished and ornamented fronts of buildings. It is 
easily worked, is abundant, admits of a handsome 
polish, and was the general material used. There 
was used also, but not until lately, a somewhat simi- 
lar stone, a shade or two darker, and known as the 
Cleveland stone. A few buildings were constructed 
of a harder stone, brought from Lockport, New 
York. A half dozen others were made of a stone 
manufactured by machinery, and there were two 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 279 

others going up, which were using a deep red sand- 
stone from Lake Superior. 

There was but one building of any size built of 
what has now been called petroleum stone. This 
was the Second Presbyterian Church, on the corner 
of Wabash avenue and Washington street. The 
petroleum part of the story is due to the fact that 
the rock is deeply mottled, from a strong gray to a 
deep dull black. The obscuration of the natural 
color is owing to what seems to be an exudation of 
dark matter. If this be an exudation, it is inex- 
haustible, for this church has been built nearly 
twenty-five years, and there has never been any 
change in its appearance. 

The quarry from which this stone is obtained is 
situated in the northwestern part of the city, and 
the stone was used largely for foundation walls. 
When the oil wells were discovered in Pennsyl- 
vania, it occurred to some persons that this exuda- 
tion upon the stone might be an indication of oil. 
As a speculation the property was purchased, and 
boring commenced. At a depth of several hundred 
feet the drill struck water ! and from that well, ever 
since, during the six or more years that have inter- 
vened, there has been a copious flood of pure water, 
but not the slightest indication of oil! Not a grease 
spot has ever been discovered. Another well was 
subsequently sunk, and to a greater depth, but 
water and not oil has been the result. The petro- 
leum theory was thus effectually exploded, and was 



280 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO! 

forgotten until it was revived by the sensationalists 
after the fire. 

Another fact, showing the absurdity of the story 
of petroleum-bearing rock spreading the flames, or 
occasioning the instant melting down of stone walls, 
is that the walls of the only large building in the 
city, built of that stone, did not crumble or fall 
down under the heat, but survived the conflagration 
in all their integrity. 

The true cause of the destruction of the stone 
walls was that the gale operated with the force of 
the blow pipe, intensifying the heat to that degree, 
that nothing could resist it. 

Generous in Banger. 

Mr. Kerfoot, son of the late Dr. Kerfoot, of Penn- 
sylvania, gives the following graphic account of his 
escape from the fire with his wife and children: 
" Being the owner of a horse and carriage which I 
used to go to and fro from my business, when I 
became satisfied that my house would soon be en- 
veloped, I brought my horse and carriage before the 
house, and placed my wife and children in it. There 
was no room for me, so I mounted the back of the 
animal and acted as postilion. While driving 
through the flame and smoke which enveloped us 
on all hands, I came across a gentleman who had 
his wife in a buggy, and was between the thills 
hauling it himself. I shouted to him to hitch his 
carriage or Vhind mine, which he did, and then 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 281 

got in beside his wife. I then drove forward as 
fast as I could, for the flames were raging around 
us. After proceeding a short distance, another 
gentleman was found standing beside the street, 
with a carriage, waiting for a horse, which was not 
likely to come. I directed him to fasten on behind 
the second carriage, which he did, and in this way 
we whipped up and got out of the way of the flames 
with our wives and children, thank God." 



The Views of an Expert, 

Frederick Law Olmstead, Esq., writes a long let- 
ter to the N. Y. Nation under date of November 
2d, from which we take the following : 

" I have had an opportunity of looking at Chi- 
cago at the beginning of the fourth week after the 
fire, and, as you requested, will give you a few 
notes of my observation. 

" Chicago had a central quarter, compactly built, 
mostly of brick, stone, and iron, and distinguished 
by numerous very large and tall structures, com- 
parable to, but often more ostentatious than, Stew- 
art's store in New York. They were mostly lined, 
to the fourth, fifth, or sixth floor, with pine-wood 
shelves, on which, or in pine-wood cases, a fresh 
stock of — larger at the moment than ever before — 
dry goods, or other inflammable materials, was set 
up, with plentiful air-space for rapid combustion. 
This central quarter occupied a mile and a half 



282 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

square of land. On one side of it was the lake; on 
the other three sides, for the distance of a mile, the 
building, though irregular, was largely of detached 
houses, some of the villa class, with small planted 
grounds about them, and luxuriously furnished, but 
generally comfortable dwellings, of moderate size, 
set closely together. There were also numerous 
churches and tall school buildings, and some large 
factories. At a distance of two miles from the 
centre, and beyond, houses were much scattered, 
and within a mile of the political boundary there 
was much open prairie, sparsely dotted with cabins 
and a few larger buildings. It will be seen that a 
much larger part of the town proper was burned 
than a stranger would be led to suppose by the 
published maps. 

" The fire started half a mile southwest, which 
was directly to windward, of the central quarter, 
rapidly carried its heights, and swept down from 
them upon the comparatively suburban northern 
quarter, clearing it to the outskirts, where the few 
scattered houses remaining were protected by a 
dense grove of trees. The field of ruin is a mile 
in width, bounded by the lake on one side and 
mainly by a branch of the river on the other, and 
four miles in length, thus being as large as the half 
of New York City from the Battery to the Central 
Park, or as the whole of the peninsula of Boston. 
The houses burned set ten feet apart would form a 
row over a hundred miles in length. I judge that 
more than a third of the roof-space and fully half 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 283 

the floor-space of the city, the population of which 
was 330,000, was destroyed. 

" Familiar with these facts and comparisons 
before I came here, and having already seen many 
who had left the city since the fire, I now feel my- 
self to have been able but slightly to appreciate the 
magnitude of its calamity. Besides the extent of 
the ruins, what is most remarkable is the complete- 
ness with which the fire did its work, as shown by 
the prostration of the ruins and the extraordinary 
absence of smoke-stains, brands, and all debris, ex- 
cept stone, brick, and iron, bleached to an ashey 
pallor. The distinguishing smell of the ruins is 
that of charred earth. In not more than a dozen 
cases have the four walls of any of the great blocks, 
or of any buildings, been left standing together. It 
is the exception to find even a single corner or 
chimney holding together to a height of more than 
twenty feet. It has been possible, from the top of 
an omnibus, to see men standing on the ground 
three miles away across what was the densest, lofti- 
est, and most substantial part of the city. 

" Generally, the walls seem to have crumbled in 
from top to bottom, nothing remaining but a broad 
low heap of rubbish in the cellar — so low as to be 
overlooked from the pavement. Granite, all sand- 
stones and all limestones, whenever fully exposed 
to the southwest, are generally flaked and scaled, 
and blocks, sometimes two and three feet thick, 
are cracked through and through. Marble and 
other limestones, where especially exposed, as in 



284 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO I 

doors and window-dressings, especially if in thin 

slabs, have often fallen to powder. Walls of the 

bituminous limestone, of which there were but few, 

instead of melting away, as was reported, seem to 

have stood rather better than others ; I cannot tell 

why. Iron railings and lamp-post, detached from 

buildings, are often drooping, and, in thinner parts, 

seem sometimes to have been fused. Iron columns 

and floor-beams are often bent to a half-circle. 

The wooden (Nicholson) asphalt-and-tar-concrete 

pavements remain essentially unharmed, except 

where red-hot material or burning liquids have 

lain upon them. Street rails on wood are generally 

in good order ; on McAdam, as far as I have seen, 

more often badly warped. 

# * # # # 

" You ask whether it is in the power of man ade- 
quately to guard against such calamities — whether 
other great cities are as much exposed as was 
Chicago'? All the circumstances are not established 
with sufficient accuracy for a final answer, and one 
cannot, in the present condition of affairs, make full 
inquiries of men who must be best informed ; but to 
such preliminary discussion as is in order, I can 
offer a certain contribution. 

" The prevailing drought was, I tnink, a less im- 
portant element of the fire in Chicago — whatever 
may have been the case as to those other almost 
more terrific fires which occurred simultaneously in 
Wisconsin and Michigan — than is generally as- 
sumed ; yet doubtless it was of some consequence. 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 285 

As to the degree of it, I learn that there had been 
no heavy rain since the 3d of July, and, during this 
period of three months, it is stated by Dr. Eauch, 
the Sanitary Superintendent, the total rain-fall had 
been but two and a half inches. The mean annual 
rain-fall at Chicago is thirty-one inches. With re- 
gard to the cause of the drought, it is to be con- 
sidered that millions of acres of land hereabouts, on 
which trees were scarce, have been settled within 
thirty years by people whose habits had been 
formed in regions where woods abound. They have 
used much timber for building, for fencing, rail- 
roads, and fuel. They have grown none. They are 
planting none to speak of. The same is true of 
nearly all parts of our country in which a great de- 
struction of forests has occurred or is occurring. If 
the reduction of foliage in any considerable geo- 
graphical division of the world tends to make its 
seasons capricious, as there is much evidence, the 
evil both of destructive droughts and devastating 
floods is very likely to extend and increase until we 
have a government service^which we dare trust with 
extensive remedial measures. It is not a matter 
which commerce can be expected to regulate. 

" I can obtain no scientifically definite statement 
of the force of the wind. Several whom I have 
questioned recollect that they found it difficult, 
sometimes for a moment impossible, to make head 
against it; but I think that no year passes that 
some of our cities do not experience as strong a 
gale, and that every city in the country must ex- 



286 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO I 

pect to find equal dryness coinciding with equal 
force of wind as often, at least, as once in twenty 
years. 

" The origin of the fire was probably a common- 
place accident. The fire started in a wooden build- 
ing and moved rapidly from one to another, close at 
hand, until the extended surface of quickly-burning 
material heated a very large volume of the atmos- 
phere, giving rise to local currents, which, driving 
brands upon the heated roofs and cornices of the tall 
buildings to leeward, set them on fire, and through 
the rapid combustion of their contents, loosely piled 
tier upon tier, developed a degree of heat so intense 
that ordinary means of resistance to it proved of no 
avail." 

Personal Experience of Son, I. JV. Arnold. 

The adventures of Hon. I. N. Arnold, formerly 
member of Congress, on the eventful night of the 
fire, were very exciting, but probably not more so 
than those of thousands of others. His story, 
which he contributed to the Chicago journals, is 
therefore the story of many others, and will serve 
to illustrate some of the terrors of that fearful 
night : 

Mr. Arnold's house was situated almost in the 
centre of a block, and surrounded by a garden 
which the owner believed afforded ample protection 
against the approach of the fiery foe. Accordingly 
no attempt was made to save any of his valuables, 
but the efforts of his household, consisting of him- 




SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. 




SHEPHARn m 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 289 

self, three children, and the servants, were directed 
towards protecting the house, in which they were 
for a time successful. The narrator says : " During 
all this time the fire fell in torrents; there was 
literally a rain of fire. It caught in the dry leaves ; 
it caught in the grass ; in the barn ; in the piazza ; 
and as often as it caught it was put out, before it 
got any headway. When the barn first caught, the 
horses and cows were removed to the lawn. The 
fight was continued, and with success, until three 
o'clock in the morning. Every moment flakes of 
fire falling, touching dry wood, with the high wind, 
would kindle into a blaze, and the next instant 
would be extinguished. The contest after 3 o'clock 
grew warmer and more fierce, and those who fought 
the devouring element were becoming exhausted. 
The contest had been going on from half past one 
until after three, when young Arthur Arnold, a lad 
of thirteen, called to his father. 'The barn and 
hay are on fire'?' 'The leaves are on fire on the 
east side,' said the gardener. ' The front piazza is 
in a blaze,' cried another, ' the front greenhouse is 
in flames, and the roof on fire.' ' The water has 
stopped !' was the last appalling announcement. 
' Now, for the first time,' said Mr. A., ' I gave up 
hope of saving my home, and considered whether 
we could save any of the contents. My pictures, 
papers and books, can I save any of them ?' An 
effort was made to cut down some portraits, a land- 
scape of Kensett, Otsego Lake, by Mignot — it was 

too late! Seizing a bundle of papers, gathering 

IT 



290 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION CHICAGO*. 

the children and servants together, and, leading 
forth the animals, they started. But where to go ? 
They were surrounded by fire on three sides ; to 
the south, west and north raged the flames, making 
a wall of fire and smoke from the ground to the 
sky; their only escape was east to the lake shore. 
Leading the horses and cow, they went to the 
beach. Here were thousands of fugitives hemmed 
in, and imprisoned by the raging element. The 
sands, from the Government pier north to LilPs 
pier, a distance of three-quarters of a mile, were 
covered with men, women, and children, some 
half clad, in every variety of dress, with the motley 
collection of things which they sought to save. 
Some had silver, some valuable papers, some pic- 
tures, some old carpets, beds, etc. One little child 
had her doll tenderly pressed in her arms, an old 
woman a grunting pig, a fat woman had two large 
pillows, as portly as herself, which she had ap- 
parently snatched from her bed when she left. 
There was a singular mingling of the awful, the 
ludicrous, and the pathetic." 

Mrs. Arnold and her little daughter, Alice, had 
been sent away to the residence of Mrs. Scudder, 
and the party were accordingly separated, a circum- 
stance which added to the anxiety of the wander- 
ers. 

After toiling along W. B. Ogden's pier, they 
hired a small row boat and were conveyed to the 
light house, where they were cordially received 
by the authorities, and other refugees who had 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 291 

preceded them. "The party remained prisoners 
in the light house, and the pier on which it stood 
for several hours. The shipping above in the river 
was burning ; the immense grain elevators of the 
Illinois Central and Galena Railroads were a mass 
of flames, and the pier itself, some distance up the 
river, was slowly burning toward the light house. 
A large propeller fastened to the dock a short dis- 
tance up the river caught fire, and the danger was 
that as soon as the ropes by which it was fastened 
burned off it would float down stream and set lire 
to the dock in the immediate vicinity of the light 
house. Several propellers moved down near the 
mouth of the river and took on board several hun- 
dred fugitives and steamed out into the lake. If 
the burning propeller came down it would set fire 
to the pier, the lighthouse, and vast piles of lumber, 
which had as yet escaped in consequence of being 
directly on the shore and detached from the burn- 
ing mass. A fire company was organized of those 
on the pier, and with water dipped in pails from the 
river the fire kept at bay, but all felt relieved when 
the propeller went to the bottom. The party were 
still prisoners on an angle of sand, and the fire run- 
ning along the north shore of the river. The river 
and the fire preventing an escape to the south, 
west and north. The fire was still raging with un- 
abated fury. The party waited for hours, hoping 
the fire would subside. The day wore on, noon 
passed, and 1 and 2 o'clock, and still it seemed dif- 
ficult, if not dangerous, to escape to the north. Mr. 



292 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

Arnold, leaving his children in the light house, went 
north towards LilPs, and thought it was practicable 
to get through, but was not willing to expose the 
females to the great discomfort and possible danger 
of the experiment." 

" Between 3 and 4 in the afternoon the tug-boat 
Clifford came down the river and tied up near the 
light house. Could she return — taking the party up 
the river — through and beyond the fire to the west 
side, or was it safer and better to remain at the 
light house; If it and the pier, the lumber and 
shanties around should burn during the night, as 
seemed not unlikely, the position would not be 
tenable, and might be extremely perilous ; besides, 
Mr. A. was extremely anxious to hnow that Mrs. 
A. and little Alice were safe. The officer of the 
tug said the return passage was practicable. Rush, 
Clark, State and Wells street bridges had all 
burned and their fragments had fallen into the river 
The great warehouses elevators, storehouses, docks 
on the banks of the river, were still burning, but 
the fury of the fire had exhausted itself. The 
party resolved to go through this narrow canal or 
river to the south bank, outside the burning dis- 
trict. This was the most dangerous experience of 
the day. The tug might take fire herself, the 
wood work of which had been blistered with heat 
as she came down; the engine might get out of 
order and the boat become unmanageable after she 
got inside the line of fire, or she might get en- 
tangled in the floating timber and debris of the 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 293 

bridges. However, trie party determined to go. A 
full head of steam was gotten up, the hose was at- 
tached to the engine, so that if the boat or clothes 
caught it could be put out. The children and ladies 
were placed in the pilot house, and the windows 
shut, and the boat started. The men crouched 
clear to the deck behind the butt works, and with 
a full head of steam the tug darted past the abut- 
ments of Rush street bridge ; as they passed the State 
street bridge the pilot had to pick his way carefully 
among falling and floating timber. The extent of 
the danger was now obvious, but it was too late to 
retreat. As the boat passed State street the pump 
supplying cold water ceased to work, and the ex- 
posed wood in some parts was blistering. c Snatch- 
ing a handkerchief,' says Mr. Arnold, ' I dipped it in 
water, and covering the face and head of Arthur, 
whose hat the wind had blown away, 1 made him 
lie flat on the deck, as we plunged forward through 
the fiery furnace.' On we sped past Clark and 
Wells streets. ' Is not the worst over V he asked 
of the Captain, as the boat dashed on and on. 
' We are through sir,' answered the Captain. ' We 
are safe.' ' Thank God !' came from hearts and lips 
as the boat emerged from the smoke into the clear, 
cool air outside the fire lines." 

The party went ashore at Lake street, and Mr. 
Arnold commenced a search for his wife and child, 
who he found had gone to Evanston. It was not 
until the next night that the whole family were re- 
united at the residence of Judge Drummond. 



294 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

RELIEF MEASURES. 

The greatness of the calamity was equalled by 
the greatness of the generosity which followed it. 
The world has never known such an outpouring of 
charity before. Scarcely had the telegraph borne 
the news of the disaster abroad, when in every city, 
town and village of the country meetings were held 
for the relief of Chicago. The movement was a 
universal and spontaneous one, city councils, cor- 
porations, railroads and steamboat interests, banks, 
churches, Sunday schools, theatres, men, women and 
children, vied with each other in generous deeds. 
Cash contributions and car loads of provisions of 
every description poured into the city until there 
was absolute danger, that in the plethora every 
thing would be wasted. 

Meeting in Boston. 

Among the many stirring appeals, none were more 
eloquent than that of Rev. Edward Everett Hale, of 
Boston, at Faneuil Hall, as follows : 

" Mr. Mayor and Gentlemen : — It is but a sin- 
gle word that I have to say here. I have simply to 
remind you that this is no mere matter of voting in 
which we are engaged. I have to remind you that 
these people, our people in Chicago, by their munifi- 
cence, by their generosity, by their strength, by their 
public spirit, have made us debtors to them all. 
[Applause]. There is not a man here, the beef upon 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 295 

whose table yesterday was not the cheaper to him 
because those people laid out their world-renowned 
and wonderful system of stock-yards. [Applause.] 
There is not a man here, the bread upon whose table 
to-day is not cheaper because these people, in the 
very beginning of their national existence, invented 
and created that marvellous system for the delivery 
of grain which is the model and pattern of the world. 
[Applause.] And remember that they were in a 
position where they might have said they held a 
monopoly. They commanded the only harbor for 
the shipping of the five greatest States of America 
and the world, and in that position they have devo- 
ted themselves now for a generation to the steady 
improvement, by every method in their power, of 
the means by which they were going to answer the 
daily prayer of every child to God when praying 
that He will give us our daily bread, through their 
enterprise and their struggles. We call it their 
misfortune. It is our misfortune. We are all, as 
it has been said, linked together in a solidarity of 
the nation. Their loss is no more theirs than it is 
ours in this great campaign of peace in which we 
are engaged. There has fallen by this calamity one 
of our noblest fortresses. Its garrison is without 
munitions. It is for us at this instant to reconstruct 
that fortress, and to see that its garrison are as well 
placed as they were before in our service. Un- 
doubtedly it is a great enterprise ; but we can trust 
them for that. We are all fond of speaking of the 
miracle by which there in the desert there was ere- 



296 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

ated this great city. The rod of some prophet, you 
say, struck it, and this city flowed from the rock. 
Who was the prophet % what was the rock 1 It was 
the American people who determined that that city 
should be there, and that it should rightly and wisely, 
and in the best way, distribute the food to a world. 
[Applause.] The American people has that duty 
to discharge again. I know that these numbers 
are large numbers. But the providence of God 
has taught us to deal with larger figures than 
these, and when, not many years ago, it became 
necessary for this country in every year to spend not 
a hundred millions, not a thousand millions, but 
more than a thousand millions of dollars in a great 
enterprise which God gave this country in the duty 
of war, this country met its obligation. And now 
that in a single year we have to reconstruct one of 
the fortresses of peace, I do not fear that this coun- 
try will be backward in its duty. It has been truly 
said that the first duty of all of us is, that the noble 
pioneers in the duty that God has placed in their 
hands, who are suffering, shall have food and cloth- 
ing; that those who for forty-eight hours have felt 
as if they were deserted, should know that they have 
friends everywhere in God's world. [Applause.] Mr. 
President, as God is pleased to order this world there 
is no partial evil but from that partial evil is reached 
the universal good. The fires which our friends 
have seen sweeping over the plains in the desolate 
autumn, only bring forth the blossoms and richness 
of the next spring and summer. 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 297 

" I can well believe that on that terrible night 
of Sunday, and all through the horrors of Monday, 
as those noble people, as those gallant workmen, 
threw upon the flames the water that their noble 
works — the noblest that America has seen — enabled 
them to hurl upon the enemy, that they mi:st have 
imagined that their work was fruitless, that it was 
lost toil, to see those streams of water playing into 
the molten mass, and melt into steam and rise in- 
nocuous to the heavens. It may well have seemed 
that their work was wasted ; but it is sure that evil 
shall work out its own end, and the mists that rose 
from the conflagration were gathered together for 
the magnificent tempest of last night, which, falling 
upon those burning streets, has made Chicago a 
habitable city to-day. [Applause.] See that the 
lesson for this community, see that the lesson for us 
who are here, that the horror and tears with which 
we read the despatches of yesterday, shall send us 
out to do ministries of truth and bounty and benev- 
olence to-day. [Applause.]" 

Statement of the Relief and Aid Society. 

"The Executive Committee of the Chicago Relief 
and Aid Society are aware that the public desire to 
know the amount of the subscriptions to the relief 
fund. It is impossible at present to give a detailed 
account of the amounts, for the reason that purchases 
made in some cities — invoices of which have not 
yet reached us — are to be deducted from the gross 



298 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

amounts of the subscription. The previous report 
of our treasurer stated the amount actually received 
at that date. We are now able to give the amount 
received to this date, November 7th, and the prob- 
able amount of the entire subscriptions with ap- 
proximate accuracy. We have actually received 
$2,051,023.55. 

a Arrangements have been made by which the 
society draws 5 per cent, on all its balances in bank. 
So far as our present information goes, and we 
think we have advices of all sums subscribed, the 
entire fund will vary but little from three millions 
and a half dollars. This includes the funds in the 
hands of the New York Chamber of CommerQe, 
amounting to about six hundred thousand dollars, 
and the balance of the Boston fund, about two 
hundred and forty thousand ; both amounting to 
eight hundred and forty thousand dollars, not yet 
placed to the credit of this society, but which may 
be relied upon to meet the needs of the future. 

"As to our disbursements, we can only say that 
we are at present aiding 60,000 people at our regu- 
lar distributing points. Some of this vast number 
we relieve in part only, but the greater portion to 
the extent of their entire support. This is in addi- 
tion to the work of the Special Relief Committee, 
for people who ought not to be sent to the general 
distributing points, and which is largely increasing 
upon our hands. It is also in addition to the ex- 
penditures of the committee on existing charitable 
institutions. 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 299 

"The great matter pressing upon your committee 
is shelter for the coming winter. We may feed 
people during the mild weather, but where and 
how they are to be housed — permanently housed — 
w r e regard as the serious question. To this end we 
have been aiding those burned out to replace small 
but comfortable houses upon their own or upon 
leased lots, where they can live, not only this win- 
ter but next summer, and be ready to work in re- 
building the city. Of these houses (which are 
really very comfortable, being 16 x 20 feet, with 
two rooms, one 12 x 16 feet and one 8x16 feet, 
with a planed and matched floor, panel door and 
good windows), we have already furnished over 
4,000, making permanent houses, allowing five to 
a family for tw T enty thousand people, and with the 
seven thousand houses which we expect to build, 
shall have houses for thirty-five thousand people. 
These houses, and some barracks, in both of which 
is a moderate outfit of furniture, such as stoves, 
mattresses, and a little crockery, will consume, say 
a million and a quarter dollars, leaving two million 
and a quarter with which to meet all the demands 
for food, fuel, clothing and general expenses from 
the 13th of October last, until the completion of 
the work, which cannot end with the present winter. 

"The committee need hardly say that if the de- 
mand should continue as great as at present the 
fund would be exhausted by mid-winter ; but we 
hope to cut this down very largely as soon as we 
can get people into house s, so that they can leave 



300 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO. 

their families and find work. Indeed, this is being 
done already. Within a few days we shall arrive 
at the exact daily expense of food and fuel rations. 
But the demand is a fluctuating one. If the 
weather is good and men can work, it falls off; 
if cold and stormy, it increases at a fearful rate. 

"The work has so pressed upon us night and day 
that we cannot present a detailed report to the pub- 
lic, but furnish this statement for the purpose of 
affording a general idea of what we have done and 
are trying to do, with an organization necessarily 
composed of unskilled forces, but the only one at 
hand for the emergency. We shall soon be able 
to give a detailed report of all sums contributed. 



Ladies' Belief Society. 

In connection with the Relief Society, a Ladies' 
Relief Society was organized on the 19th of Octo- 
ber, at the house of Mrs. Wirt Dexter. One of its 
primary objects was to seek out those sufferers by 
the fire, who shrank from making their wants 
known, even to the bureau of special relief, and to 
relieve them as quickly and as delicately as possible. 

For the supply of clothing, the society had an 
Employment Bureau. Rooms were opened where 
seamstresses were furnished with work. From 
thirty to fifty, under a competent forewoman, were 
busily engaged in making garments for the Chicago 
Relief and Aid Society. This work was under the 
careful supervision of the ladies, who allowed no 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 301 

waste of materials in cutting, or carelessness in sew- 
ing. Through this Employment Bureau poor, home- 
less girls, whose means of living were taken away 
by the fire, by the loss of their machines, or their 
places, or both, and who were rapidly coming to 
the extremity of poverty, found useful work, and 
true, kind friends. The officers are as follows : 

President — Mrs. John Mason Loomis. 

Vice President — Mrs. Robert Laird Collier. 

Recording Secretary — Mrs. S. H. Gay. 

Corresponding Secretary — Mrs. Wirt Dexter. 

Treasurer — Mrs. George M. Pullman. 

Assistant Treasurer — Mrs. Martin Andrews. 

Employment Committee — Mrs. J. W. Foster, Mrs. 
G. M. Pullman, Mrs. L. Z. Leiter, Mrs. J. M. Wal- 
ker, Mrs. M. Andrews, Mrs. G. C. Gore, Mrs. Wirt 
Dexter, Mrs. R. L. Collier, Mrs. J. C. Hilton, Mrs. 
S. Reeve, Mrs. A. C. Badger, Mrs. Palmer Kellogg, 
Mrs. N. R. Fairbank. 

Distribution Committee — Mrs. Wirt Dexter, Mrs. 
G. M. Pullman, Mrs. Palmer Kellogg, Mrs. D. A. 
Gage, Mrs. F. M. Mitchell, Mrs. R. L. Collier, Mrs. 
L. Z. Leiter. 

Visiting Committee — Mrs. C. H. McCormiek, Mrs. 
Dr. Locke, A. C. Badger, Mrs. F. M. Mitchell, Miss 
N. J. Lunt, Miss N. T. Agncw, Mrs. J. M. Walker, 
Mrs. M. Andrews, Mrs. N. R. Fairbank. 

Donations. 
To give all the donations sent to Chicago in 



302 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

detail would fill a large volume of itself, and we 
therefore content ourselves with a few of the more 
prominent, as follows : 

St. Louis, $200,000 

Boston, 400,000 

Pittsburgh, 300,000 

Buffalo, 100,000 

Cincinnati, 225,000 

Rochester. N. Y., 70,000 

San Francisco, 100,000 

Toronto, 10,000 

New Orleans 30,000 

Philadelphia, . . . 260,000 

Baltimore, ....'. 200,000 

A. T. Stewart, N. Y., 50,000 

Robt. Bonner, 10,000 

Kansas City, Mo., 10,000 

Indianapolis, 40,000 

Montreal Board of Trade, 10,000 

Portland, . 20,000 

Leavenworth, 10,000 

Quincy, 111., 15,000 

San Francisco Stock Exchange, . . . 8,000 

Lawrence, Kansas, 10,000 

Syracuse, N. Y., 25,000 

Haverhill, Mass., 10,000 

Oswego, N. Y., 12,000 

Newark, N. J., 30,000 

Trenton, N. J 17,000 

Manchester, N. H., 15,000 

Terra Haute, Ind 10,000 

Bloomington, 111., 15,000 

New York Gold Exchange, 12,000 

Erie, Pa., 15 000 

Detroit, 30,000 

Lancaster, Pa 25,000 

Layfayette, Ind., 10,000 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 303 

We have only given the above as indications of 
the immense volume of charity which flowed into 
Chicago. The feeling of sympathy extended to 
Europe, and from all the large cities of England, 
France and Germany, came generous contributions, 
which were swelled by donations from the royal 
purses. From the king on his throne to the poor 
woman in her hovel, all gave their mite. The fol- 
lowing incident told of Mr. Edward Hudson, an 
Illinois Railway Superintendent, shows in a humor- 
ous way the universal sympathy, and the degree of 
charity to which it actuated people : 

Upon hearing of the burning of Chicago, his first 
act was to telegraph to all agents to transport free, 
all provisions to Chicago, and to receive such arti- 
cles to the exclusion of freight. He then purchased 
a number of good hams and sent them home 
with a request to his wife to cook them as soon 
as possible, so they might be sent to Chicago. 
He then ordered the baker to put up fifty loaves of 
bread. He was kept busy during the day until 5 
o'clock. Just as he was starting for home the baker 
informed him the hundred loaves of bread were 
ready, 

" But I only ordered fifty." said Ed. 

" Mrs. Hudson also ordered fifty," said the 
baker. 

"All right," said Ed., and he inwardly blessed 
his wife for the generous deed. 

Arriving at home he found his little boy, dressed 



304 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION CHICAGO: 

in a fine cloth suit, carrying in wood. He told him 
that would not do ; he must change his clothes. 

" But mother sent all my clothes to Chicago," 
replied the boy. 

Entering the house he found his wife, clad in a 
fine silk dress, superintending the cooking. A re- 
mark in regard to the matter elicited the informa- 
tion that she had sent her other dresses to Chicago. 

The matter was getting serious. He sat down to 
a supper without butter, because all that could be 
purchased had been sent to Chicago. There were 
no pickles — the poor souls in Chicago would relish 
them so much. 

A little put out, but not a bit angry or disgusted, 
Ed. went to the wardrobe to get his overcoat, but it 
was not there. An interrogatory revealed the fact 
it fitted in the box real well, and he needed a new 
overcoat anyway, although he had paid $50 for the 
one in question only a few days before. An exami- 
nation revealed the fact that all the rest of his 
clothes fitted the box real nicely, for not a " dud " 
did he possess except those he had on. 

While he admitted the generosity of his wife, he 
thought the matter was getting entirely too personal 
and turned to her with the characteristic inquiry ; 

u Do you think we can stand an encore on that 
Chicago fire." 





LAND-OFFICE, ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD 






CROSBY'S DISTILLERY. 




REPUBLIC LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY. 




FIRST NATIONAL BANK. 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 307 



RELIEF INCIDENTS. 

A lady connected with relief operations, after the 
fire, says : 

" Once within [the church of refuge] we found 
plenty to do. Beds had been hastily improvised 
from the seats in the lecture room for the sick. 
Here was a poor old grandmother, with the skin all 
burned from her hands. There the doctor was 
attending to a man whose head had been crushed. 
Everywhere were lost children crying pitifully, who 
needed comforting. One boy had gone out of town 
to spend the night with a friend, and when he re- 
turned, his father's house, barn, everything was 
gone, not so much as a fence-panel left of his splen- 
did home. But, sadder than that, he could not find 
father, mother, brothers or sisters. No one could 
give him any information, nor any of the other poor 
lost children. We could only see that they had 
warm clothing, and urged them to eat; and, thanks 
to the ready forgetfulness of childhood, they all had 
good appetites. And didn't we give them strong 
coffee and tea, and all sorts of indigestible things, 
though ? for already loads of good things were arriv- 
ing from all the blessed country. There were boi 
hams and tongues, roasted sirloins of beef, turkeys, 
chickens, cakes and genuine country dried beef, 
cheese and butter, and the poorest beggar in Chi- 
cago had the privilege of dining with the Mayor 
and his staff of assistants. c There are no big-bugs 



308 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO I 

here*now,' said an old Irish woman, not, I think, 
without satisfaction. 

" On one seat lay a beautiful babe about eight 
months old, that had been found on the sidewalk. 
It lay sucking its thumb, and gazing as contentedly 
up at the bright windows as if it had always lived 
in a church. 

" In one corner was a German woman, with nine 
children, of all sizes. ' Where is your husband ? ' 
we inquire. 

" ' Ach, Gott in Himmel ! I took the children and 
he took the feather bed, and he was so slow I think 
he got burned up, mit the feather bed. There was 
no water, and all the men on the north side drinked 
beer and whisky, and then they could no go fast. 
If I had taken the feather bed mineself, now I 
would have it.' 

" ' Yes ; but you. should be thankful that you have 
all your children,' I suggested. 

" ' Aber ! What can I do mit the children, mit- 
out a feather bed? ' she asked in astonishment. 

" Not feeling equal to a reply, we turned to an- 
other group. It is a woman who is clinging tight 
to her baby, and with sobs of despair telling sympa- 
thizing listeners how yesterday she had a pleasant 
home, a dear, kind husband and five children ; now 
this little child is all she has left. They had slept 
so soundly they did not waken until their own house 
was burning. She had snatched her babe and es- 
caped, she knew not how, through the flames and 
smoke, calling to her husband to follow with the 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 309 

other children. But he was too late. There was 
nothing left of the husband, children and home but 
a sickening little heap of ashes ! ' Let me have the 
baby,' said a tearful listener: 'I will give it some 
warm milk, while you lie down and rest. I hope it 
will be a comfort to you.' So saying she undid the 
shawl that was wrapped around it, but quickly closed 
it again with a look of horror, but not soon enough 
to prevent the mother from seeing that her darling 
was dead in her arms. It had either inhaled the 
flame, or the mother, in foiling, had killed it, and 
had been carrying it for miles, not knowing it was 
dead. The shock was too much for her. We could 
see from her wandering eyes that her reason had 
gone forever, and we could not help feeling that it 
was a blessing. 

" In another room is a woman who has been hav- 
ing convulsions all day. She brings a note to the 
pastor, saying that her husband was cut in twain by 
a fire-engine. 

" The next day we spend in giving out clothes. 
What wonderful boxes have come ! What a beau- 
tiful exhibition of divine charity throughout the 
whole land ! People were in such nervous haste 
they did not stop to consider what was most needed, 
but sent everything they could lay their hands on — 
ball dresses, theatrical costumes, white vests and lav- 
ender gloves, piled in with homespun jeans. Only 
Boston, never in her intellectual pride impulsive, 
telegraphed to know what was most needed ; and 



310 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

what elegant clothing the noble citizens of the Hub 
sent when they received the answer ' Everything.' 

" Some dear old lady has sent some brocade silks, 
made in the style of 1700, with immense sleeves, 
puffed out with eider down, and short waist with 
big puffs. They are really too precious to give 
away, say the ladies. We will have tableaux in the 
church this winter for the benefit of the sufferers, 
and use them in that way. 

" And what wonderful contrasts there are in the 
people who" come for clothes ! Side by side with the 
miserable Irish beggars, who want something be- 
cause the Poor House is burned down, come a for- 
eign Consul, Judges of the Supreme Court, lawyers, 
editors, professors and merchants. An English gen- 
tleman on his bridal tour, stopping at one of the 
hotels, lost his trunks and money. Although he 
offered a man $500 to assist him, he could get no 
assistance. Even his w r ife's clothes she had on 
caught in the flames, and had to be torn from her 
back. His order called for the very best we had to 
give, but our very best would make a strange outfit 
for a wealthy young bride. 

" There comes a lady in a black silk velvet suit, 
with diamonds to match. She put on her finest 
clothes to save them, and has come to ask for a 
calico wrapper, so that she may not be so splendid 
in her poverty. 

" We were perfectly overwhelmed with calls for 
baby clothes. It seemed as though every family 
who was burned out was blessed w 7 ith a baby — and 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 311 

a good many orders called for clothes for twins. 
They were of all ages, from two hours to two years. 

" Many who had escaped from the flames with 
good clothes on, in wandering over the ruins fell 
into vaults and sewers, and lost them in that way. 

" One poor Norwegian woman, who had been sit- 
ting in stony despair with her children by her cook 
stove, the only thing she had been able to save, on 
being tolcl that she could get a bucket of hot soup 
every day all winter, without money and without 
price, burst into tears and insisted on shaking hands 
with everybody in the church, and then taking 
heart, fell to polishing her stove with such a will 
that it shone almost as bright as the blessed charity 
that had cheered her." 



Rev. Robert Collyer's Boston Sermon, 

On the 12th of November, Rev. Robert Collyer, 
the eminent Unitarian divine of Chicago, preached 
at Rev. E. E. Hale's Church in Boston, from the 
text, "A crown of life," in which he made the fol- 
lowing allusion to the Chicago fire : 

" There were men in Chicago who were wearing 
and had already won that coronation of life. They 
saw in that calamity the work of the best part of a 
life, as it were swept away in an instant. And what 
a work it was, what homes they had made for 
themselves ! This morning they are what the 
world calls ruined men, all the savings of all the 
years melted before their eyes in fervent heat, not 



312 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

even the home remaining. Bat, thank God, there 
remains that which made their homes prosperous 
and happy. And yet I will say that I never before 
saw such a divine opportunity opened before these 
men to win this noble coronation, the crown of vic- 
tory. Already we have seen dozens of them right 
on the way to this coronation, so clearly and com- 
pletely victorious, standing among the ashes of 
their burnt homes and their blasted hopes, that I 
should not feel more sure of their divine coronation 
if I saw the chariots of God and His angels stand- 
ing with their trumpets at their lips ready to sound 
the glorious consummation of their lives. And yet 
it is a very simple thing that I have witnessed in 
that city since the calamity- — only the shining of 
clear, strong eyes, only the beating of steadfast 
hearts, only in the hand as clasped that of a neigh- 
bor's, only as they stood on their burnt houses ready 
to begin again. And I tell you if the blessed angels 
above knew nothing of such heart-breaking as we 
have had to go through there, yet I know that if 
they witnessed such high courage as our men have 
shown, and are showing, they will have anticipated 
God's will already done, and will have already re- 
ceived the crown eternal. I have a small, delicate 
man in my parish; I have him now in my eye; 
slightly dwarfed, and I know how I used to wonder 
how he could carry himself along the streets ; when I 
met him he would tell me his business was not doing 
much for him, and that he was very poorly , all the 
time I had a little ache in my heart for that little man. 



313 

But he had a splendid wife, and a house full of 
children. God bless him for that ! When the fire 
came it burnt him up clean. He has a rich nephew 
down at the East, who telegraphed at once to him, 
offering him a home for the winter, and to give him 
a new start in the spring. But that little, delicate 
man telegraphed back, * I can't leave the ranks,' 
and he hasn't left them ; he is working hard, has a 
nice little home, and there he lives as pleasant, com- 
fortable and contented as ever he was." Alluding to 
the work which women in Chicago had done, Mr. 
Collyer said : " I think that in these weeks the good 
women of our city have already won their crown^ 
and the angels have sung their praises. They have 
done such work as men never could have done ; they 
have been as steadfast and calm through all the 
terrible scenes as great captains who know the 
whole fate of an army lies in their hands. The day 
of the fire was their coronation day. They not only 
worked hard necessarily to save their own children, 
sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers, but any who 
happened to come in their way. Through those 
dark days they had shown a courage and heroism 
far above the men ; for by their example men were 
sustained, cheered and roused to greater effort. 
They could not well afford to have another such a 
fire, in one sense, but if such a fire would again call 
forth such a display of courage and devotion he 
would say heartily, 4 God's will be done.' The only 
great example of hope and courage displayed any- 
where during the great fire came out of the example 



814 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO. 

of woman ; out of the ruins of our city a crown has 
been gained and a coronation for every one." Mr. 
Collyer then referred to the many young men and 
young ladies, born, brought up and educated in the 
best manner which money could effect, who would 
be bettered by the experiences they had passed 
through, and who would now be enabled to commence 
life with a purpose in view, and with such an incentive 
as never before actuated their breasts. Speaking of 
his personal feeling in regard to the fire he said: 
" When that great calamity settled down upon us 
I thought I ought to trv and find some view of the 
better meaning of it. I was fighting it for a whole 
week. But I couldn't find it. I said this whole 
thing is just as bad as it can be. The evil one, the 
devil, has got loose in this town, and has overcome 
the good God. And when I stood on the stone that 
had fallen from the crown of our poor church, with 
my poor flock around me, there was still a bitter 
drop in my heart, and I said, sometime we may 
thank God for this, but He won't expect us to do it 
to-clay. Now I take it all back just as Job did. I 
said it because I couldn't say anything better; I 
couldn't bring myself to thank God for what he had 
wrought upon us ; I hardly thought he could have 
done it ; I thought the devil had overthrown God, 
and had wrought the destruction of our beautiful 
city. But I have altered my mind since then ; I 
have begun to talk more like 'Brother Collyer.'" In 
conclusion, Mr. Collyer alluded to the event of a new 
church for himself and congregation; he couldn't 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 315 

ask his congregation to build it, but he would ask 
the Unitarians of Boston; it was their duty and 
their right. As long as it pleased God to give him 
life, no other man should stand over his congrega- 
tion ; it was his right until his mission was fulfilled, 
and he heard a voice saying : " Well done, good and 
faithful servant ; thou hast been faithful unto me in 
a few things, I will make thee ruler over many. 
Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." 



The Feeling in England. 

One of the best statements of the feeling in Lon- 
don produced by the details of the fire, is contained 
in the following letter to the Chicago Tribune, from 
its own correspondent in that city : 

London, October 28. 
No event has occurred to divert the attention 
which the fires at Chicago attracted from the first. 
Money continues to pour in, and were it not for the 
persuasion which some of the influential are endeav- 
oring to use, viz. : that America herself has already 
met the emergency, the supplies would be very much 
larger. People anxiously wait to learn the amount 
of suffering that exists ; whether there is sufficient 
shelter ; what has been saved ; what are the 
methods of recovery. The history of the Chicago 
Tribune has been printed in every journal of the 
land, and the names of three or four of its staff havo 
become familiar. For my part, I search every mail 
that comes in for a copy. I know it will soon be 



316 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO. 

forthcoming, and that we shall have its every 
characteristic, freely examined and described. 

The electric telegraph is freely used in connection 
with the Chicago intelligence. The Cunards and 
other steamers are boarded, and the contents of the 
latest papers are put on the wires without much 
abridgment. It was the Silesian that brought us 
the first long despatches. She arrived at Plymouth, 
from which port the news is republished, but in this 
instance an exception was made. The haste with 
which the New York press printed the early details 
sent from your city prevented even an ordinary dis- 
crimination from being exercised, and English read- 
ers, accustomed, I am bound to say, to more exact- 
itude and accuracy, are puzzled to find so much that 
is stated contradicted a little further down. The 
illustrated papers were sorely tempted, and some of 
them " fell." We had pictures last week in two of 
the papers, of Chicago on fire, and this week the 
Illustrated London Neivs supplies a cartoon of the 
kind. It is scarcely possible that, even at this com- 
paratively late period, any genuine artistic reproduc- 
tion can have come to hand. If the idea once gets 
bruited around that the cartoons in the illustrated 
papers are drawn from imagination, they will suffer 
in material fortune as well as in fame. 

As soon as order is restored the authorities at 
Chicago will, no doubt, send some report to the 
people here of the mischief done and the means 
that have been taken to remedy it. I will suggest 
that this be transmitted to the Lord Mayor of Lon- 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 317 

don. The Lord Mayor, like the Sovereign, never 
dies. The present gentleman, under whose care the 
Chicago fund was established, retires into private 
life next week. But it is to the Lord Mayor 
the people will look, whoever that gentleman may 
happen to be. I may say that the despatches of ac- 
knowledgment already transmitted by the Mayor of 
Chicago are deemed most touching and appropriate. 
People shed tears on reading them, so strong are 
the feelings aroused. The Queen's donation was 
made with expressions which reveal her truly fine 
and sympathetic nature. The Queen reads every 
line from Chicago that is printed in the papers, and 
I am sure she will be gratified if she is made to 
know that the republicans of the Far West give her 
credit for recognizing a common human life. I am 
jealous of Chicago at this particular crisis of her 
history. I want nothing to escape her that can be 
laid hold of by the envious and by the misanthro- 
pic. She has been made famous alike by her pros- 
perity and by her adversity. Let all her public acts 
be governed by high aims, and let the official com- 
munications with European friends be made by men 
who are distinguished by delicate taste as well as 
by good judgment. Something is thought in such 
circumstances even, of phrases. 

Your readers would smile in the midst of their 
trouble could they peruse some of the curious re- 
flections to which the peculiar calamity at Chicago 
has given rise. The " unco' guid" see in it a judg- 
ment by Heaven, imagining that those upon whom 



318 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO. 

this " Tower of Siloam" fell were worse than the 
rest of the world. Others account for it by engi- 
neering defects — blunders in building — downright 
recklessness. Some of the philosophic class, who 
look at all these things through the most powerful 
microscope their faculties supply, propound a lazy 
kind of theory that Chicago was proceeding too ra- 
pidly altogether to be safe. She existed in fact, 
through friction ! As to the future, the sort of pre- 
dictions uttered and written concerning you are 
amnzing. The general belief appears to be that you 
are to be rebuilt — in striking contrast to the origin 
of Rome — " in a day." In ruins yesterday — stately 
marble to-day. Jonah's gourd was nothing to it. 
You are credited with superhuman powers, and the 
English public will be sadly disappointed if they 
don't hear very soon that " not a trace of the late 
calamitous fire is to be seen." 



Letter from S. H. Gay. 

Mr. Sidney Howard Gay, who speaks from actual 
personal knowledge, and from thorough acquaint- 
ance with the workings of the Relief Society, has 
written a letter to the New York Tribune, from 
which we make this extract, as it shows very clearly 
what the society has done, and is from the pen of 
one in a position to know of what he writes. After 
alluding to the fire, and the number of people left 
homeless, Mr. Gay says : 

"Of this 100,000 people, 20,000 probably left 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 319 

the city in the course of a few days. The Trans- 
portation Committee alone has issued passes to 
7,000, which the different railroads have duly 
honored; the railroad officers have passed many 
more of their own motion, and a large number have 
gone out of town, in various other ways than by 
rail, to the towns and country round about. Then 
15,000 more, perhaps, found refuge with friends in 
the city, or could command the means to establish 
themselves in some sort of an abiding-place of their 
own. But making thus all possible deductions, 
there would remain from 60,000 to 70,000 persons, 
absolutely destitute of everything, to be fed, and 
clothed, and sheltered , and, indeed, now — more 
than a month after the fire, and when a large 
decrease has been made, from various causes, in the 
number of those who cannot take care of them- 
selves — there stand recorded upon the books of the 
Relief Society 13,000 families who need to be sup- 
ported wholly or in part. It is not likely that they 
average much less than five to a family, and that 
would give about 60,000 as the number who have 
to be looked after daily by the Relief Committee. 
It is a complicated business to care for an army of 
60,000 men, duly mustered and in quarters, its 
command divided and subdivided, so that each man 
is under the immediate and personal supervision of 
a superior officer, its Commissary Department fully 
provided for, its whole machinery thoroughly syste- 
matized and in perfect running order, with all its 
traditions and regulations and checks and balances 



320 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

as accurately adjusted as in an eight-cylinder print- 
ing press and a first-class steam-engine. Given first 
this great and perfected machinery, and given then 
the men who are accustomed by long habit to run it, 
and your army of 60,000 men goes on smoothly 
enough, provided every man is careful and diligent 
in his special duty, provided no screw gets loose 
anywhere, and no hitch occurs anywhere from the 
Commissary General down to the drummer-boy's 
rations. But conceive of an army of 60,000 to be 
composed, not of marshalled, organized, and trained 
men, where there is a place for every man and 
every man knows his place, but of men and women 
and children, without organization or cohesion; 
huddled together in extremity of distress, weary, 
hungry, houseless, naked, cold, and in despair, and 
the problem is how to feed and clothe and shelter 
them — a problem to be solved instantly or they per- 
ish — not to be ciphered out at leisure with time 
enough to devise plans and appoint officers of tens 
and of hundreds of thousands, to provide material 
and places, to divide and subdivide work and duties 
— but the whole thing to be taken in a lump then 
and there, and then and there done before sun- 
down. Conceive of this, and you have an idea of 
the work that was hurled at the Relief Society ; of 
the chaos out of which they had to evolve order ; 
of the prayer for salvation which came from those 
tens of thousands of pleading eyes, and those tens 
of thousands of outstretched hands. They did what 
they could ; it is wonderful they did so well ; none 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 321 

but that Power which said, • Let there be light, and 
there was light,' out of such darkness could have 
commanded the perfect day. 

" It was fortunate for Chicago that it had such an 
organization as this Relief and Aid Society. It has 
been in existence nine or ten years, has taken upon 
itself, during all that time, the care of such of the 
poor of the city as were not absolute paupers, and 
has been managed by picked men from among its 
lawyers, physicians, clergymen, and merchants. As 
in all such cases, the work had devolved upon a 
few, but those were men who, voluntarily, and from 
conscientious and benevolent motives, took this work 
of charity upon themselves, and reduced it to a 
system of scientific accuracy. On Monday, the 9th 
of October, in the first confusion of that dire disaster, 
and when the city was like the first resting-place 
of a routed and fugitive army, with no water save 
that dipped from the lake by hand; no gas in 
streets or houses; a .third of the people without 
food, or shelter, or clothing; that pitiless south- 
west gale unabated in its fury, and over all that 
fierce glow of the smouldering fires, shedding down 
upon us a lurid light from a brazen sky, like a 
moonlight red with blood — then we turned for suc- 
cor where we could. The first generous supplies 
of provisions, and clothing, and money, that poured 
in from all sections of the country were used with- 
out discrimination or judgment, and, though they 
relieved much suffering, where relief could hardly 
go amiss, there was enormous and lavish waste, as 



322 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

well as cruel, selfish greed. And in another sense, 
also, we were like a defeated army flying, with all 
the people round about, before a relentless enemy, 
for the birds of prey scented death and disaster, and 
gathered for the feast, and filled the air with their 
clamor. Here were millions of money coming, and 
thousands upon thousands to be dependent upon 
bounty, and disbursements to be made which, both 
as to those who made and those who received them, 
would be a fruitful source of power and of profit. 
The November election was only a month away, 
and to the foul brood of city politicians, it seemed 
that their father, the Devil, had come in just the 
nick of time to their assistance. A Board of Alder- 
men, a majority of which has aspired to be the 
Tamany of Chicago, and so far as it has failed, has 
failed for want of opportunity and ability, and not 
because of any fear of either God or man, counted 
now upon retaining place and putting their enemies 
under their feet, with the personal and pecuniary 
power which the handling of the relief fund and 
provisions in kind would give them. For the first 
three days, from Tuesday to Friday, the danger was 
that affairs would fall completely into the hands of 
this class of political bummers, and the struggle 
they made to retain their hold upon them was as 
desperate as the clutch of death. 

" It was the crisis in the fate of Chicago. Whether 
it should ever recover from the terrible calamity 
that had swept over it, or whether the ruin should 
be utter and irrevocable, depended altogether upon 




MICHIGAN SOUTHERN R. R. DEPOT. 




(USE, STATE STREET. 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 325 

the character of the men into whose hands should 
fall the essential government of the city at this mo- 
ment. That essential government would rest with 
those into whose control should come the care of 
the needy and suffering ; who should keep them in 
a condition for wholesome labor, and should provide 
it for them ; should keep away from them all temp- 
tation to desperate remedies for desperate circum- 
stances ; and who should use wisely and economi- 
cally the generous bounty in provisions and money 
which was pouring in from every quarter. Of that 
rich fund we should, without doubt, have seen the 
end ere this, had things gone on as they begun, and 
the laboring people of Chicago, instead of being 
cheerfully at work at good wages, would have been 
at this moment a starving, discontented, turbulent 
population, feeling that they were defrauded of 
that which an overwhelming sympathy for suffer- 
ing had given for their relief, that a gang of thiev- 
ing politicians might carry out their purposes in 
attaining or keeping political power, and grow rich 
upon the sustenance of the poor. But, fortunately, 
the Mayor of Chicago was a man of common sense, 
who would not give up to party what was meant 
for humanity. He recognized the distinction that 
the succor sent to Chicago was sent to the people, 
and not to the municipality ; that it no more fell by 
necessity and right under the control of the Board 
of Aldermen or the Common Council than under 
that of the Board of Trade, but that it ouffht to <ro 

where there was the best assurance that it would 

19 



326 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

be used for the purposes for which it was given, 
and where those who gave it would have some con- 
fidence that it would be so used. By timely procla- 
mation, therefore, three days after the fire, but 
when time enough had elapsed to justify the wis- 
dom and necessity of the step, Mayor Mason handed 
over the whole business of the care of the needy 
and the custody of everything bestowed on their 
behalf to the Relief and Aid Society. The 'Ring' 
did not submit to this decision without a desperate 
struggle ; but fortunately the Executive Committee 
of the society were not only men of high standing 
in this community, but men of firmness and quick 
decision. Accepting the great trust imposed upon 
them, they entered instantly and vigorously upon 
the great work before them, heedless of partisan 
clamor, deaf alike to threats and offers of compro- 
mise. In three days the question was settled, and 
the almoners of the largest beneficence that the 
world, perhaps, has ever seen for a purely humane 
purpose, sat in perpetual session at Standard Hall, 
organizing and carrying out a system of relief and 
aid for this stricken people, so that not a dollar 
should be wasted or unaccounted for, and not one 
in this great multitude of sufferers should go hun- 
gry, or unclothed, or without shelter. There are, 
no doubt, here, as there would be everywhere un- 
der like circumstances, other men who, from like 
motives and with like ability and integrity, would 
have discharged the responsibilities of such a trust ; 
.but it is no more than common justice to say that 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 327 

every one of these men gives his invaluable services 
at great sacrifice of his personal affairs, and it is 
simply an obvious reflection to add that it was most 
fortunate for Chicago that such a body of men was 
already picked and chosen, ready and willing for 
so sudden and so urgent an emergency. 

The Resumption of Business. 

The following table will illustrate how quickly 
this city resumed its ordinary business, even with 
the want of depot facilities by many railroads. We 
give two days' buisness one month after the fire, 
and one two weeks later, compared with the busi- 
ness of the corresponding days of the preceding 
year: 



Receipts and Shipments daring 48 hoars, Nov. *lth and 


Sth 1870 


, and Nov 


. nth and Sth, 1871. 






1870. 


1S71. 


1870. 


1871. 


Flour, bbls., . . 


12,826 


11,443 


6,596 


15,088 


Wheat, bushels, . 


135,515 


128,300 


123,955 


58,521 


Corn, bushels, . 


247,730 


68,100 


158,185 


89,874 


Oats, bushels, 


53,758 


37,016 


136,273 


35,562 


Rye, bushels, . . 


28,616 


5,333 


18,872 




Barley, bushels, . 


32,400 


14,940 


63,192 


5,895 


Grass seed, lbs., . 


124,838 


37,665 


50,919 


19,734 


Flax seed, lbs., . 


30,000 


3,686 


21,380 


51,410 


Broom corn, lbs , 


373,100 


209,869 


54,900 


196,871 


Cut meats, lbs., . 


146,230 


43,520 


278,694 


471,779 


Beef, bbls., . . . 


2,870 


389 


2,013 


7,602 


Pork, bbls., . . 


16 


. 


1,285 


670 


Lard, tcs., . . . 


74,520 


. . 


287,764 


280,020 


Tallow, lbs., . . 


16,514 


48,490 


. 




Butter, lbs., . . 


126,010 


107,490 


71,637 


30,980 



328 



THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION CHICAGO 





1S70. 


1871. 


1870. 


1S71. 


Live hogs, No., . 


5,275 


5,182 


5,182 


381 


Cattle, No., . . 


1,971 


904 


904 


1,467 


Sheep, No., . . 


625 






394 


Hides, lbs., . . 


184,056 


373,872 


165,226 


215,180 


High wines, bbs., 


867 


508 


238 


750 


Wool, lbs., . . 


268,675 


56,266 


38,878 


144,890 


Potatoes, bushels 


9,397 


15,460 


. 


3,012 


Lumber, M., . . 


14,616 


15,273 


3,007 


4,225 


Shingles, M., , . 


8,283 


3,957 


2,427 


4,190 


Lath, M., . . . 


493 


553 


416 


490 


Salt, bbls., . . 


12,135 


28,865 


1,718 


3,625 



Receipts and Shipments for the weeks ending Nov. llth and 
Nov. 18th, 1871. Compared with corresponding week in 
1870. 





RECEIPTS. 








Nov. 18, 1S71. ] 


Vov. 11, 1871. 


Nov. 19, 1870 


Flour, bbls., . . 


28,586 


35,272 


36,050 


Wheat, bushels, . 


222,345 


390,538 


310,570 


Corn, bushels, 


846,549 


817,904 


291,688 


Oats, bushels, 


349,382 


270,367 


136,559 


Rye, bushels, . . 


19,991 


26,474 


22,539 


Barley bushels 


61,450 


87,530 


41,(530 


Dressed hogs, No. 


u 


26 


453 


Live hogs, No., . 


102.544 


56,036 


65,726 


Cattle, head., . . 


13,652 

SHIPMENTS. 


10,051 


12,597 


Flour, bbls.. . , 


, 17,499 


19,156 


38,966 


Wheat, bushels, . 


146,639 


413,909 


549,286 


Corn, bushels, . . 


777,953 


547,634 


296,388 


Oats, bushels, . , 


, 450,649 


473,134 


178,767 


'Rye, bushels, . . 


42,468 


37,570 


51,114 


Barley, bushels, 


72,980 


108,726 


15,750 


Dressed hogs, No, 


; • 


. 


. 


Live hogs, No., 


. 27,566 


26,570 


20,131 


Cattle, head, . 


4,728 


3,498 


5,207 



THE NEW CHICAGO. 

From the wreck and ruin of this great calamity, 
there is no one who questions the restoration and 
continued growth of Chicago. The first issue of 
each of her papers proclaimed, as its motto, Resur- 
gam. That was the universal sentiment. In three 
clays after the fire there was no one selfish enough 
to complain of his individual losses, nor any one 
weak enough to doubt the reconstruction, and on a 
grander scale, of this great marvel of the world. 
Chicago has hitherto attained a world-wide fame as 
the greatest grain market of the world, and to thou- 
sands in the United States even, it is supposed that 
that is the great business which sustains her. A year 
or more ago the project of shipping grain to the At- 
lantic by means of barges on the Mississippi river, 
and by rail, was for a time seriously considered, and so 
strongly was the impression that Chicago owed all 
she had to that trade, and depended on that for a 
continuance, that a Cincinnati paper seriously pro- 
pounded the question, " What, then, is the future 
use of Chicago 1 " 

That this grain trade has been of immense conse- 
quence, and that it was the original means of build- 
ing up the immense commerce that is done here, is 
true, but the grain trade itself is a consequence of 
the natural location of Chicago. The railroads 

(329) 



330 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO I 

worked a revolution in the transportation business. 
First the passengers and soon the freight abandoned 
the slower means of wagon and boat, for the 
speedier transit of the rail. Nevertheless, water 
transportation is cheaper than rail, and cost of trans- 
portation is the important item in the value of grain. 
Each penny added to, or taken from the cost of 
moving grain from the farm to New York, is a penny 
taken from, or added to, the value of the grain in 
the producer's hands. It soon became an ascer- 
tained fact, that it was as cheap to send grain to 
Chicago, by rail as to haul it to any town on a water 
course. Here it had cheap water navigation direct 
to New York by lake and canal. The grain came 
to Chicago, because Chicago was the only point 
where it could find a market large enough to receive 
all that was sent," and with facilities for shipping it 
to the East at comparatively small cost. The fact 
of this great market at the head of lake navigation 
has been of immense value in the filling up of the 
Northwest. Every man in selecting a location in 
the West estimates the value of his land, and of its 
products, by computing the distance to Chicago, and 
the rates of transportation. In this way the West 
has grown up around Chicago, and each additional 
mile of railway laid down towards Arkansas, Kansas, 
New Mexico, and the territories round to the ex- 
treme north, but brings within the circle of her tri- 
butaries, additional fields of production, additional 
people for whom she is to be the great market of sale 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 331 

and supply. The Pacific railway already constructed, 
and the others to follow, are but enlargements of the 
means by which this city is to extend her commerce. 
The St. Lawrence, so long neglected, will, as a route 
for ocean commerce, at last, fill the expectations of 
its early explorer, Champlain. The increase in the 
transportation of grain to the seaboard by rail, has 
given cause to many forebodings that the business 
will eventually pass away from the lakes, and be 
done by railway from local points where grain 
can be accumulated. So long as grain can be 
delivered cheaper by water than by rail, and the 
time is not too long, the cheaper route will be 
maintained. An enlargement of the Erie canal 
to meet the enlarged demand for transportation, 
the use of steam exclusively on the lake and on the 
canal, and a repeal of the extortionate rates of toll, 
will keep pace with an increase of railroad move- 
ment of grain. When, however, the St. Lawrence 
shall be adapted to the use of steam propellors of 
large capacity to and from Montreal, then Montreal, 
and not New York, will regulate the price, and 
water transportation to Montreal will approximate 
in time to that of rail to New York, at one-half 
the cost. 

The position of Chicago marks it as the great 
centre of distribution. Hence the Northwest is 
supplied with all it needs. The whole range of 
manufactures, domestic or imported, must find their 
market here. The Northwest is teeming with 



332 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

woollen mills, but their goods must be sold here, 
as all those of New England are sold at Boston and 
New York. Chicago, as a distributing point, has 
the advantage over these points, that it furnishes 
direct to the consumers. It is in the centre of the 
increasing population. A thousand cities are rap- 
idly growing up within twelve hours' travel. These 
are, commercially speaking, suburbs and work- 
shops of Chicago. They manufacture ; they buy 
material ; they sell to consumers ; but the seat of 
all this commerce is in the city of Chicago. Their 
growth is her growth. As they grow with the rapid 
settlement and increasing products of the districts 
around them, so Chicago grows with the increase 
of these numerous cities. She is the commercial 
agent of the West — she has States and cities for her 
constituencies. 

The grain trade, however, has long since ceased 
to be the supreme or principal item in her com- 
merce. It is, of course, immense, and is forever 
growing. But there are other things equally prom- 
ising, and the city is not dependent upon a good 
crop for business. Manufactures are coming to the 
West. The man who pays out of his corn the cost 
of sending it to market, and of bringing back the 
exchange goods, knows the value of distance as 
well as time. Within reasonable distance of Chi- 
cago are inexhaustible beds of coal. The coal 
fields of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois have been more 
developed by Chicago capital and enterprise within 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 333 

the last five years, than they had ever been before. 
Large portions of this coal are specially adapted for 
the manufacture of iron. Upon Lake Superior 
are the inexhaustible deposits of iron ore, far richer 
in yield than any other in the land. Chicago 
stands midway between these coal fields and this 
ore, and whether the ore be carried to the coal, or 
the coal to the iron ore, or both be brought to 
Chicago, there to be converted into merchantable 
iron, the result is the same, that Chicago, in a very 
few years, will be the great distributing point from 
which the whole West will be supplied with its 
iron. Boiling mills and furnaces have already 
been put in operation, but when the artificial 
restraints upon the consumption of iron shall be 
removed, and each man be free to use more iron, 
and have it at less cost, these iron furnaces and 
mills, and all the forges and machine shops, steel 
and cutlery establishments, and all other manufac- 
tures using iron to any extent, will gather in and 
around this grand centre, all adding their contri- 
bution to the ever growing, ever extending volume 
of Chicago's trade and commerce. 

With these additions to her industry of course 
comes the wealth and power of population. The 
tables of population in June, 1871 showed a total 
of 3o2,000. At first it was supposed the fire would 
retard the increase which had hitherto marked the 
history of the city ; but this is a delusion ; in thirty 
days after the fire there were as many men at work 



334 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

as there were before that event. A demand was cre- 
ated for extraordinary numbers of skilled workmen. 
Masons, carpenters, plumbers, painters, furniture 
makers, and all other mechanical trades have come 
hither in large numbers, but for years the supply 
will not equal the demand. There is not a work- 
shop where iron and machinery is fashioned that 
has not been working day and night continuously 
since the fire, nor will they, or any of the additional 
ones to be put in operation at once, have any cessa- 
tion of business for the next five years. By that 
time the old Chicago will have been forgotten in 
the proportions of the new. With a population in 
1876 of not less than half a million of people, and 
possibly many thousands more, with the burnt dis- 
tricts all restored, but this time in solid masonry ; 
with the buildings now standing all replaced with 
buildings of a new architecture, and of durable 
materials, she will be the great market in which 
twenty five millions of people will buy and sell, and 
from which will be distributed the supplies of ex- 
change products. With her trunk railroads extend- 
ing directly to every point of the Atlantic coast; 
from Portland to Galveston; with her water com- 
munication direct to Europe, retaining her charac- 
ter as the granary of the continent, and seated in 
the very heart of population, she will draw trade 
and commerce from all sections, and be the great 
heart sending forth life blood to every extremity of 
the American empire. 



335 



The city itself will be grand. Even in her com- 
parative infancy precautions have been taken for 
the future. She has already purchased and in pre- 
paration a series of parks and boulevards, the di- 
mensions of which have been given, which will be 
unequalled in their extent, beauty, and natural 
location, by anything of that kind on this conti- 
nent. The Chicago of 1870-71 planned and bought 
these parks and boulevards. Their completion may 
be delayed a few years, by the sudden calamity of 
the great fire, but there are men already past middle 
age, who will see this grand system of improve- 
ment, so extensively carried out as to be one of the 
great objects of interest in the great republic. 

The fire swept through the city while the people 
were considering the propriety of erecting a free 
public library. The fire settled that question and 
in the affirmative. Every public library, with few 
exceptions ; every private library of any pretensions 
in the city, was destroyed. The next library will be 
a public one, and a free one, and on a scale worthy 
of a great city, as this is to be. Intimately connected 
with this plan is that of a school of practical science, 
which will have all the advantages of the most 
approved models in Europe, without their defects. 
Such schools, embracing the widest range of utility, 
are destined, under the support of an intensely 
practical people, to become here in Chicago the 
great educators of the future men of the country. 
The men who are to-day excavating the debris of the 
Chicago of 1871, are but clearing the ground, and 



336 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

repairing the foundations on which is to be built 
the great city of Chicago, the seat of commercial 
and manufacturing industry of the continent, the 
home, within this century, of a larger population 
than has ever been attained by an American city, 
and distinguished by the adornments, wealth, power, 
and public institutions which are incidental to a 
people whom no reverses can depress, to whom suc- 
cess is but an incentive to still greater effort. 



Rebuilding Clvicago. 

Nature, since the memorable day of wrath on 
which Chicago was left half in ruins, has smiled 
upon the city, and the work of reconstruction has 
gone earnestly on, aided by the beautiful hazy 
weather peculiar to the Northwest, and known as 
the Indian Summer; but, recently a snow storm 
came on suddenly, and the heaps of debris and the 
half-built walls were covered with snow-heaps that 
seem to defy further progress. The snow, however, 
has merely impeded, not stopped the work of rebuild- 
ing ; for everywhere is heard the clink of trowel and 
the stroke of hammer. Owners, contemplating 
round rents, are anxious to have their buildings up ; 
and mechanics, in the enjoyment of wages which 
two months ago would have been thought fabulous, 
are quite superior to all meteorological inconveni- 
ences. If any one thinks that Chicago has lost her 
population, and with it her enterprise, he should 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 337 

stand upon Madison, Randolph, or Lake street 
bridges at dusk, and watch the myriads of laborers 
and mechanics that, having finished their day's work 
in the ruins, crowd over those structures to their 
homes in the West Division. So innumerable are 
they that they seem to rise from the brick heaps 
like coveys of wild fowl. It is gratifying to know 
that these men are toiling not only to rebuild Chi- 
cago, but, under skilful direction, and backed by 
shrewd capitalists, to rebuild it of marble. The 
foundations that they are laying are broad and deep, 
and the superstructures that are to rise upon them 
will be massive and magnificent. There is earnest 
promise of this in nearly all that in the way of re- 
building has already been done ; and builders who 
propose to await the spring's coming before laying 
their foundations, do so that they may form their 
plans on the same magnificent scale. 

The work of removing debris was and continues 
to be one of appalling proportions. Notwithstand- 
ing that the teaming facilities of the city are large, 
and that these are reinforced by farmers, who drive 
in from a circuit of 150 miles, yet the demand far 
exceeds the supply. Teamsters and their wagons 
receive about $6 a day. Potter Falmer, desirous of 
at once commencing work on the re- erection of the 
magnificent store which was occupied by Field & 
Leiter, sought to contract for the removal of the de- 
bris. The lowest bid he could obtain was $?,000, 
but, rather than pay this extraordinary sum for 
work which ordinarily would be performed for 



338 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

$1,000 at the utmost, he set to work himself, and is 
rapidly accomplishing the removal. Palmer, though 
a millionnaire, is, when he wishes to be, an earnest 
worker. He watched the construction of this very 
building from foundation stone to turret, was 
prouder of it than of any of his palatial structures, 
and means that it shall, under his own eye, rise to 
greater than its old proportions. 

Fortunately the basin, which is formed on the 
lake shore, by the outlying track and break-water 
of the Illinois Central Railroad, afforded a conveni- 
ent dumping place for the immense quantities of 
rubbish taken from the ruins. If some such place 
were not afforded, the expense attending the re- 
moval would be increased incalculably. This rub- 
bish, though worthless in itself, is of great value to 
the city, since it is making land for the city at the 
rate of $1,000 a day. The basin, and the adjoining 
land, which is known as the lake front, is nearly a 
mile in length, and in some places is three hundred 
feet in depth. Under existing laws it can be used 
for no other than park purposes, and, before the 
fire, was undergoing improvement as a park. The 
exigency, however, authorized the Board of Public 
Works to convert it, temporarily, to business pur- 
poses, and now down its entire length, rearing their 
pine fronts on Michigan avenue, is a row of tempo- 
rary buildings, devoted mainly to the wholesale 
trade. Leases have been made for one year, at the 
expiration of which the buildings are to be removed. 
The rental was fixed at $500 for every twenty-five 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 339 

feet, but many of the merchants, on what principle 
of equity it is impossible to imagine, are of the 
opinion that the city will never enforce the collec- 
tion of the rent. It is estimated by competent per- 
sons that in the course of time, with the accretions 
made in the manner described, the land may be sold 
(the needed authorization having of course been 
obtained) for a sum equal to the city debt, which is 
now, in round numbers, $13,000,000. The railway 
companies which had their depot at the foot of Lake 
street, the Illinois Central, the Michigan Central, 
and the Burlington and Quincy, are, and have long 
been desirous of extending their depot facilities, 
and for this purpose have sought to acquire the fee 
to three blocks of the lake front. The Legislature 
sold these blocks to the companies some years since 
for $800,000, which sum they were to pay the city, 
which was to apply it to park purposes. The pay- 
ment was made, but before the companies obtained 
possession certain property holders who owned land 
abutting on Michigan avenue, and who claimed cer- 
tain rights in the lake front, the most prominent of 
these rights being an easement, brought the matter 
into chancery, where it now languishes. 

The Work of Rebuilding. 

Wonderful as were the manifestations of the fire, 
the energy with which the business men of Chicago 
set about the work of rebuilding was even more 
wonderful. At first business sought a place for 



340 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO. 

itself in temporary wooden shanties hastily thrown 
together. Once housed, merchants then commenced 
the permanent work. Within six weeks after the 
tragedy closed, many of the most enterprising and 
courageous were actively reconstructing two hun- 
dred and twelve permanent brick and stone build- 
ings in the burned district of the South Division 
alone, covering a total street frontage of 17,715 
feet, or 3^ miles. The fact seems almost incredible 
when it is considered what an amount of brick, stone 
and iron has had to be removed, also the sudden 
advance in price of all kinds of building material, 
and the coldness and general unfavorableness of the 
weather for out-door operations. The general ap- 
pearance of the new Chicago will be greatly changed. 
It is the almost unanimous determination of build- 
ers to secure massiveness and solidity at the expense 
of ornamentation. With few exceptions the walls 
are of the straw colored brick, the fronts of red 
pressed brick, the trimmings of stone and iron, and 
the cornices principally of brick. It is safe to say 
that there will be no more eight inch walls in Chi- 
cago. Sixteen and twenty inches will be the rule ; 
and where timber is used at all, it will be excessively 
heavy. The 212 buildings referred to are already 
commenced. Next spring Chicago will be a busy 
hive of labor, as the architects' books are literally 
crammed with orders for new and elegant buildings, 
some of them of the most magnificent description 
The buildings spoken of, are located as follows : 




FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH. ISOUTH SIDE.) 




ST. JAMES' CHURCH. (EPISCOPAL.) 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 343 

River street, • . . 7 

South Water street, 12 

Lake street, 10 

Randolph street, 6 

Washington street, 6 

Madison street, 29 

Monroe street, . 26 

Adams street, 2 

Quincy street, 1 

Jackson street, 1 

Van Buren street, 1 

Harrison street, 2 

Polk street, 1 

Michigan avenue, 8 

Wabash avenue, IT 

State street, 24 

Dearborn street, 6 

Clark street, 16 

La Salle street, 4 

Fifth avenue, 6 

Franklin street, 9 

Market street, 3 

Miscellaneous, 21 

Total, 212 



The Future. 

Said the Missouri Republican : — "Chicago, though 

stricken in purse and person as no other city recorded 

in history ever has been, is not crushed out and 

destroyed, and her complete restoration to the place 

and power from which she is temporarily removed 

is only a question of time. It would be sad, indeed, 

if a conflagration, though swallowing up the last 

20 



344 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

house and the last dollar of a great commercial 
metropolis, could fix the seal of perpetual annihila- 
tion upon it, and declare that the wealth and pros- 
perity which were once should exist no more for- 
ever. Such might be the case, perhaps, were there 
none other save human forces at work ; but into the 
composition of such a city as that which the demon 
of fire has conquered, enter the forces and necessi- 
ties of nature. Chicago did not become what she 
was, simply because shrewd capitalists and energetic 
business men so ordained it. That mighty Agent, 
who fashions suns and stars, and swings them aloft 
in the boundless ocean of space, marks out by immu- 
table decree the channels along which population 
and trade must flow. When the first settlers landed 
at Jamestown and Plymouth, and began to hew a 
path for civilization through the primeval forest, it 
was as certain as the law of gravitation, that if this 
continent were destined to be a new empire, fit to 
receive the surplus millions of the eastern hemis- 
phere, and contribute to the progress and enlighten- 
ment of mankind everywhere, there must and would 
be a few prominent centres, so to speak, around 
which the vast machine could revolve. Those cen- 
tres were determined by geography and topography 
of the country ; and when the advancing tide of 
immigration touched them they began to develop 
as naturally and irresistibly as the flower does 
beneath the genial influences of sunshine and 
showers. For practical purposes neither Jamestown 
nor Plymouth were of any special consequence; 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 345 

therefore the one has ceased to exist altogether, and 
the other remains an insignificant town. But the 
inner shore of Boston harbor, the island of Man- 
hattan, the site of Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cin- 
cinnati, New Orleans, St. Louis, and San Francisco, 
furnished the required facilities, and we see the 
result to-day. Nature declares where great cities 
shall be built, and man simply obeys the orders of 
Nature. 

"The spot where Chicago river empties into 
Lake Michigan belongs to the same category as 
those we have mentioned. It was designed and 
intended for the location of a grand mart to supply 
the wants of the extreme Northwest — that portion 
of the central plateau lying on the line and to the 
north of the Union Pacific Railway, and the west- 
ern part of the British possessions. The trade from 
these sections seeks an outlet there, and finds it 
better and more available than anywhere else. This 
fact was settled before the first brick was laid in 
Chicago; was settled when Chicago rose to the 
rank of the fifth city in the republic, and is settled 
just as firmly now, when, to all human appearances, 
her destruction is well nigh accomplished. 

"Natural advantages, then, must compel the re- 
construction of Chicago, even though every foot of 
its soil passes out of the hands of the present pro- 
prietors. And if we examine what the fire has 
spared, it will be found that the nucleus of a new 
and rapid growth is not wanting. Not more than 
twenty per cent, of the lumber supply has been con- 



346 



THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 



sumed, thus affording ample material for building ; 
the largest elevator and perhaps one or two of the 
smaller ones are safe; the stock yards are uninjured, 
and with these avenues for business open, business 
itself is sure to come speedily. Indeed, it is an- 
nounced that several vessels received full loads of 
wheat from the elevators as early as Wednesday, 
and departed on their accustomed voyages to Eastern 
ports. There is also good reason to believe that at 
least one-half the insurance will be paid, and as this 
cannot be much less than $100,000,000, money will 
not be lacking. If we add to these resources the 
railway lines converging to that point, which repre- 
sent an aggregate capital of $300,000,000, and 
remember that every railway is directly interested 
in the process of reconstruction, and will aid it in 
all possible ways, it may not be difficult for even the 
most incredulous to see why and how Chicago must 
grow again. That she is absolutely ruined or per- 
manently disabled is a sheer impossibility which no 
sensible person will for a moment credit. 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 347 

EMINENT CITIZENS OF CHICAGO. 

As samples of the class of men who built up and 
gave character to the great city now in the struggle 
of rebuilding, after an almost total destruction of 
its material structure, biographical sketches of a few 
of the leading citizens are here inserted. 

Charles Tobey 

Was born in 1831, in Denis, Cape Cod, and is one 
of the most prominent manufacturers of the West. 

In 1855 he entered Chicago without a friend 
there, or even a letter of introduction. 

He, however, soon obtained a clerkship, and in 
1856, with a $500 loan from a friend at Boston, he 
began business on his own account, and succeeded 
beyond the most sanguine expectations. 

He is a man of business, promptness, efficiency, 
positiveness, enterprise, and indomitable persever- 
ance, and his success in life, according to air ac- 
counts, is amply deserved. 

John Van Osdel. 

Among the men who have risen with Chicago, 
contributing to its wonderful greatness, is Mr. 
John Van Osdel, a native of Baltimore. 

He was born in 1811, his father being a car- 
penter. 

He was the pioneer of the famous grain elevators 



84 8 THE GREAT FIRES OF THE WORLD. 

of New York. Then, after engaging for a time 
in the iron foundry and machinery business, he re- 
turned to his early choice of architect. Eecognized 
as the best in the city, his employment increased 
with the city's growth, and he accumulated a large 
fortune. 

From his early struggles, his energy and readiness, 
his zeal in self-education, he well deserves the posi- 
tion he has attained. 



Philip A. Hoyne. 

Mr. Hoyne was born in New York, in 1824, and 
when he was thirteen he entered a book-bindery. 

In 1841 he settled in Chicago, and commenced 
the practice of law. Becoming tired of that pro- 
fession, he went to Galena, where he remained ten 
years. He then returned to Chicago, and is now 
United States Commissioner for the Northern Dis- 
trict of Illinois. His impartiality and critical acu- 
men have made the name of Commissioner Hoyne 
very popular. 

Hon. Bigby N. Bell. 

The Hon. Digby N. Bell was born in 1804, and 
commenced his active life as a sailor. Soon tiring 
of that drudgery, he went with his young family and 
settled in Michigan. After farming awhile, he set- 
tled, in 1851, in Chicago, and established there the 
first Commercial College in Illinois. He has de- 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 349 

voted the latter years of his life in advancing the 
cause of education. 



Hon. Isaac N. Arnold. 

This eminent merchant of Chicago was born in 
Hartwick, Otsego, county, New York, November 
30th, 1815. His parents were natives of Rhode 
Island, whence they emigrated to New York in 1800. 
At the age of fifteen he was thrown wholly upon 
his own resources. He resolved to become a law- 
yer, and in 1836 he removed to Chicago, at that 
time a mere village. He has since filled the posi- 
tion of City Clerk, State Senator, and finally mem- 
ber of Congress. He was the intimate friend of 
President Lincoln, of whom he wrote a life. 

Thomas Church, 

Thomas Church was born in Onondaga, New 
York, November 8th, 1801. 

His early life was a hard one ; and one of his 
first experiences was earning six and a quarter 
cents for a day's labor in picking stones. 

Become a man, his first idea was to farm, but he 
afterward took to commerce. 

In 1834 he removed to Chicago, built a house, 
and opened a store. His business steadily increased, 
and in 1840 he took Mr. M. Salterlee into partner- 
ship, their stock consisting of groceries, paints, oils, 
and domestic dry goods. In 1848 he began his 



350 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

real estate transactions and built largely. He has 
been one of the busiest of men, and is president of 
the Chicago Firemen's Insurance Company. 



Col. George B. Armstrong. 

Col. Armstrong was born in Ireland, in 1822. 
When he was quite a child his parents emigrated 
to the United States, and settled at Newark, New 
Jersey. In 1833 the family went to Virginia, and 
the succeeding year settled in Baltimore. In 1854, 
young Armstrong went to Chicago, where, four 
years afterwards, he inaugurated a new system of 
distributing letters. 

In 1864 he was authorized by the post office to 
test his system, and he has now made it a grand 
success. 



James H. Bowen. 

The subject of this brief sketch was born in 
1822, in New York State, his father being a car- 
penter. In 1836 he left home to become a clerk, 
and in 1839 he removed to Little Falls, New York. 
In 1842 he was elected secretary and treasurer of a 
large commercial company. In 1857 he settled in 
Chicago, and with his two brothers started the firm 
of Bowen Brothers, which soon became one of the 
foremost even in that city of mammoth concerns. 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 351 

John F- Farwell 

Was born in 1827 in Steuben county, New York. 

In tbe spring of 1855 he worked his passage, on 
a load of wheat, to Chicago, and set his foot in that 
city with three dollars and twenty-five cents capital. 
He obtained a situation in a dry goods house, stead- 
ily progressed therein until he became partner, and 
soon, by his energy, the firm was doing the vast 
business of ten million dollars per year. 

He founded, and in a measure sustained, the Illin- 
ois Street Mission for Outcast Children, and has 
been an earnest friend and associate of the Young 
Men's Christian Association, and is still in the prime 
of life. 



Wm. F. Coolbaugh 

Is a native of Pike County, Pennsylvania, and was 
born in 1821. 

He began business in 1842, at Burlington, Iowa. 

He has long occupied a leading position in the 
State Legislature, and as a financier stands deserv- 
edly high. 

In 1862 he removed to Chicago, and started a 
banking house, afterward the Union National Bank, 
and he soon became President of the National Bank- 
ers' Association for the West and Southwest. These 
positions show conclusively how Mr. Coolbaugh is 
regarded in the Great West. 



352 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

Wm. Heath By ford. 

Mr. Byford first saw the light in Eaton, Ohio, on 
March 20th, 1817, and at the age of twenty he placed 
himself under the guidance and guardianship of 
Doctor Joseph Maddox, of Vincennes, Indiana; 
commencing practice on his own account at Owens- 
ville in 1838, and obtaining a regular diploma from 
the Ohio College in 1845 

He has filled many important public positions, 
and is widely known as an author of many learned 
medical works. 

With the burden of fifty years upon him, Doctor 
Byford is still stalwart, erect in person, and as vigor- 
ous as ever. 



F. G. Welch. 

F. G. Welch was born in Ohio, 1833. After 
various mercantile experiences in Colorado, San 
Francisco, and other towns, he emigrated, in 1863, 
to Chicago. His success has been great. He is 
the editor of the Farmer's Friend of that city, and 
has recently established the Merchants' and Com- 
mercial Travellers' Association. 



Samuel Hoard. 

This energetic man was born at Westminster, 
Mass., May 20th, 1800. Before he was six years of 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 353 

age both his parents died, and he then lived with 
relations, who gave him a good education. Com- 
mencing the study of the law, he grew dissatisfied 
with his progress and entered a store as clerk. In 
1833 he removed to Chicago and settled as farmer, 
but his active mind was not satisfied with agricul- 
tural pursuits, and in 1840 he was appointed to take 
the State census for Cook county, Chicago, which 
then contained about 5,000 inhabitants. In 1842 
he was elected State Senator, and was soon after 
appointed Clerk of the Circuit Court. In 1845 he 
formed a partnership with J. T. Edwards, the emi- 
nent jeweler, and the firm soon became a great 
success. 

He was appointed by President Lincoln postmas- 
ter of Chicago, which position he retained till Andy 
Johnson's accession. 

Julius Bauer. 

Among Western business men who have achieved 
success with no other capital than intelligence and 
perseverance, few are more deserving of notice than 
Julius Bauer, the musical instrument maker. 

Twenty-two years ago he landed in New York, a 
stranger in a strange land. 

He started in business in New York, afterward 
went to Philadelphia, and in 1857 caught the Chi- 
cago fever, and started a branch house there, in the 
famous Crosby Opera Building. 

His business progressed at the usual prodigious 



354 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

Western rate, and in 1862 he became the agent of 
William Knabe & Co., the piano manufacturers. 
By his energy, attention to business, and identifica- 
tion with the real wants and interests of our people, 
Mr. Bauer is a fair type of the self-made man. 

James H. Hoes. 

James H. Hoes left his father's home at the age 
of fourteen, and started on his life- task in the year 
1835. 

He set out from Kinderhook, N. Y. — his native 
town — and went to Towanda on foot. 

Having decided to go into the jewelry business, 
he applied to the best watchmaker in the place for 
a situation, and after entreating him to give him an 
opportunity of learning the trade, James succeeded 
in getting employment. 

Through his industry and tact Mr. Hoes gained 
the good wishes and esteem of Mr. Langford, his 
employer. At the end of a year he offered to give 
him a share in the business, having already gradu- 
ally promoted him to high positions. 

In 1840 they both prepared to remove to New 
York, and enter into business there, but as sickness 
prevented Mr. Langford from carrying out his plans, 
Hoes became superintendent of a concern at Os- 
wego and after going to Binghampton, where for two 
years he did business on his own account, he returned 
to Oswego and bought out Mr. Wilson, his former 
employer. 



ITS PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. 355 

Young Mr. Hoes was thus, by his own unaided 
exertions, in possession of the finest establishment 
in that part of the country. 

Having married, and removed his business to 
Danville, he continued in his labors at that place 
for eight years, at the end of which time he resolved 
to try his fortune in the West. He went to Mil- 
waukee, and from there to Chicago. He bought 
the stock of Hoard & Avery, and began business in 
the Garden City. Here, after a period of unex- 
ampled success, he sold out, in 1867, to one of his 
former partners, and retired from active life to enjoy 
the fortune which he had so honorably accumulated. 
But absolute retirement soon proving impossible, he 
finally accepted the management of the Northwest- 
ern Silverware Company. 

In social life Mr. Hoes has always been considered 
a just and charitable man. 

His circle of acquaintances, which comprise the 
most distinguished and honored citizens of Chicago, 
unite alike in their praise of his private and profes- 
sional character. 



y 



POEMS. 

From the great number of poems inspired by the 
great calamity we select the following, as among 
the best. The number of those published was well 
nigh legion, but only a small proportion of them 
were ever worthy to appear in print. 

Chicago. 

BY JOHN G. WHITTIER. 

Men said at vespers : All is well ! 

In one wild night the city fell ; 

Fell shrines of prayer and marts of gain 

Before the .fiery hurricane. 

On threescore spires had sunset shone, 
Where ghastly sunrise looked on none ; 
Men clasped each other's hands, and said : 
The City of the West is dead I 

Brave hearts who fought, in slow retreat, 
The fiends of fire from street to street, 
Turned, powerless, to the blinding glare, 
The dumb defiance of despair. 

A sudden impulse thrilled each wire 
That signaled round that sea of fire ; — 
Swift words of cheer, warm heart-throbs came ; 
In tears of pity died the fiame ! 

(357) 



358 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

From East, from West, from South and North, 
The messages of hope shot forth, 
And, underneath the severing wave, 
The world, full-handed, reached to save. 



Fair seemed the old ; but fairer still 
The new the dreary void shall fill, 
With dearer homes than those o'erthrown, 
For love shall lay each corner-stone. 

Rise, stricken city ! — from thee throw 
The ashen sackcloth of thy woe ; 
And build, as Thebes to Amphion's strain, 
To songs of cheer thy walls again I 



How shrivelled in thy hot distress 
The primal sin of selfishness ! 
How instant rose, to take thy part, 
The angel in the human heart ! 

Ah ! not in vain the flames that tossed 
Above thy dreadful holocaust ; 
The Christ again has preached through thee 
The Gospel of Humanity ! 

Then lift once more fhy towers on high, 
And fret with spires the western sky, 
To tell that God is yet with us, 
And love is still miraculous I 




NEW ENGLAND CHURCH. (CONGREGATIONAL.) 




A 



_ — -m&&ffe&*~ 



UNITY CHURCH. (DR. COLLVER.) 



THE SMITTEN CITY. 361 

The Smitten City. 

BY GEORGE ALFRED TOWNSEND. 

I heard a parson of the school of Baalam 

Lift up the lesson of the naming town, 
And, like a pedler in the will of Heaven, 

Show how its sins invoked the Sovereign frown. 

Thus the dead lion ever is insulted 

By asses' colts, whose pity is a blow, 
And fallen empires find their last misfortune 

In shallow platitudes from fool and foe. 

Bright, Christian capital of lakes and prairie, 

Heaven had no interest in thy scourge and scath ; 

Thou wert the newest shrine of our religion, 
The youngest witness of our hope and faith. 

Not In thy embers do we rake for folly, 

But like a martyr's ashes gather thee, 
With chastened pride and tender melancholy, — 

The miracle thou wast, and yet will be ! 

Not merely in the homages of churches, 

Or bells of praise tolled o'er the inland seas, — 

Thou glorified our God and human nature 
With meeter works and grander melodies. 

Of cheerful toil and willing enterprises, 
Of hearty faith in freedom and in man ; 

The hoar old capitals looked on in wonder 
To see the swift strong race this stripling ran. 

How like the sun he rose above the marshes, 
And built the world beneath his airy feet, 

And changed the course of immemorial rivers, 
And tapped the lakes for water cool and sweet. 
21 



362 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION— CHICAGO : 

How skilfully the golden grain transmuted 
To birds of sail and meteors of spark, 

And, like another Noah, bade creation 
March in the teeming mazes of his ark. 

Yet in his power, most frank and democratic, 
He roused no envious witness of his joy, 

And in the stature of the Prince and hero, 
We saw the laughing dimples of a boy. 

Still wise and apt among the oldest merchants, 
His young example steered the wary mart, 

And amplest credit poured its gold around him, 
And trade imperial gave scope for art. 

His architectures passed all heathen splendor, 
The immigrating Goth drew wandering near ; 

To see his shafts and arches tall and slender 
Branch o'er the new homes of this pioneer. 

The Greek and Roman there might see rebuilded 
In vastness equal and in style as pure, 

The merchants' markets like a palace gilded, 
With marble walls and deep entablature. 

His two score bridges swinging on their pivots, 
The long and laden line of vessels sped, 

While he, impatient, marched beneath the sluice, 
His hosts, like Cyrus, in the river's bed. 

Then, when all weak predictions proved but scandal, 
And the wild marshes grew a sovereign's home, 

A dozing cow o'erset an urchin's candle, — 
Once more a fool fired the Ephesian dome. 

The artless winds that blow o'er plains of cattle, 
And cooled the corn through all the summer days, 

Plunged like wild steeds in pastime or in battle, 
Straight in the blinding brightness of the blaze. 



THE SMITTEN" CITY. 363 

And down fell bridge, and parapet, and lintel, 
The blazing barques went drifting, one by one ; 

The mighty city wrapped its head in splendor, 
And sank into the waters like a sun I 

Oh ! thou, my master, champion of the people, 
Tribune august, who o'er kept righteous court, 

Long after fire had toppled church and steeple, 
Thou stood'st amidst the ruins like a fort. 

High and serene thy cornices extended, 

Though scorched by smoke and of the flame the pre}', 
Above the vault where, grim and calm, and splendid, 

The sleeping lions of thy presses lay. 

Till looking round on the wondrous pity, 

Thyself alone erect, intact, upreared, 
Disdaining to outlive the glorious city, 

With innate heat transfigured, disappeared. 

Yet, from the grave Chicago's wondrous spirit 
Comes forth all brightness, o'er the darkened town, 

To say again : " Lo ! I am with you, brethren ; 
With all my thorns, I wear my civic crown. 

" To die is sweet embalmed in your compassion ; 

Your oil and wine make life in every rent. 
Oh ! let me lean a little while upon you, 

And walk to strength in your encouragement." 



Cincinnati, October 13, 1871. 



364 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 



Chicago* 

BY BRET HARTE. 

Blackened and pleading, helpless, panting, prone, 
On the charred fragments of her shattered throne, 
Lies she who stood but yesterday alone. 

Queen of the West : by some enchanter taught, 

To lift the glory of Aladdin's court, 

Then lose the spell that all that wonder wrought. 

Like her own prairies by some chance seed sown, 
Like her own prairies in one brief day grown, 
Like her own prairies in one fierce night mown. 

She lifts her voice and in her pleading calls, 

We hear the cry of Macedon to Paul, 

The cry for help that makes her kin to all. 

But happy with wan fingers may she feel, 
The silver cup hid in the proffered meal, 
The gifts her kinship and our loves reveal. 



October 10, 1871 






OUT OF THE ASHES. 365 



Out of the Ashes. 

BY HOWARD GLYNDON. 

Oh ! fallen with the falling leaves, 
And level with the dust as they ! 

Thy beauty, City of the lake, 
Is but a thing of }'esterday. 

Thou wondrous blossom of the West ! 

We were so passing proud of thee : 
" See," said we to the elder world, 

" How cities grow when men are free." 

Thy senior sisters, looking on 
With dazed, half unbelieving eyes 

Saw thee, like Hercules of old, 
Swift into ripe estate arise. 

And seeing thee so fair, how hisrh 
The hearts of all thy children were I 

We would not blame them if to-day 
They bowed their faces in despair ; 

Or, newly risen from troubled sleep, 
Stared, with uncomprehending eyes, 

On homesteads smouldering, black and bare, 
Beneath the mild October skies ; 

Where, here and there, but yesterday 
Towered up such sumptuous witnesses 

Of their devoted hearts and hands — 
God help them in this sore distress ! 

And saying this, the Nation takes 
These homeless children of the West 

Into her motherly embrace, 
And hides the homeless in her breast. 






366 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

Not houseless while our homes have room I 
Not homeless — all cur doors are wide ! 

The welcome that we send to day 
Is tinctured with exulting pride. 

For who has heard one craven cry, 

Though thousands wander lorn and pale ? 

Oh ! strong young city, sorest tried, 
There's bravery even in thy wail 

To where thou sitt'st we bring the world, 
And show thy ruins, saying, " See ! 

She is not broken, only bent ; 

For hearts are strong when men are free." 



PARIS AND CHICAGO. 367 

Paris and Chicago- 
{From the New York Evening Post.) 

bird with a crimson wing 

And a brand in thy glowing beak, 
Why did'st thou flatter o'er seas to bring 

A woe that we dare not speak ? 

By the light of a flaming sword, 

Did the beautiful Queen of the East 
Behold the awful avenging word, 

And drink the blood of the feast. 

Her fires went out on the hearth, 

And the glory of Paris has fled ; 
Could her maddening wiles and unseemly mirth, 

Unstop the ears of the dead ! 

Did out of her ashes arise 

This bird with a flaming crest, 
That over the ocean unhindered flies, 

With a scourge for the Queen of the West ? 

See homes at its bidding fall ! 

At its fiery fierce attack ! 
While the fiends of the air hold cam ival 

In the light of its lurid track. 

The joys that were held so dear, 

On the glow of its breath expire ; 
While treasures and palaces disappear, 

Consumed by its vengeful ire. 

Fly hence on thy wing of fla me , 

bird ! for thy work is done ; 
And the queens of a different clime and name 

In their ruin and grief are one. 



THE NORTHWESTERN FIRES. 



THE GREAT CONFLAGRATIONS 



IN THE STATES OF 



MICHIGAN AND WISCONSIN. 



GREAT FIRES OF THE WORLD 



ROME, MOSCOW, LONDON, 



NEW YORK, PITTSBURGH, CHARLESTON, CHICAGO, PHILADELPHIA, 
SAN FRANCISCO, PORTLAND, 



OTHER GREAT FIRES. 



THE NORTHWESTERN FIRES. 



Wisconsin. 

The great fires which devastated the northern and 
northeastern portions of Wisconsin and Michigan 
appropriately belong to a work of this kind, for the 
burning of Peshtigo, Manistee, Holland and the 
numerous villages along the shores of Green Bay, 
will always be associated with the destruction of 
Chicago, more especially as the principal towns 
were destroyed on the same evening. While the 
loss of property may not have been so great, the loss 
of life was much more terrible and the areas burned 
over incalculably larger. The same causes in a 
certain degree conspired to produce this destruc- 
tion. The summer had been an excessively dry 
one, and the usual prairie fires which occur every 
fall, were burning over wider tracts than usual. 
Had it not been for the combination of wind and 
fire, it is doubtful whether any material loss would 
have occurred. Prairie fires in these regions are so 
common as to attract no attention, even when they 
get into the woods, for green timber offers little food 
for combustion. The people of Peshtigo for in- 
stance, were resting in perfect security on that fatal 

Sabbath. The fires were about them in every 

(371) 



372 THE NORTHWESTERN FIRES. 

direction, but they had fought them off with the 
appliances so familiar to frontiersmen, and dreamed 
of no danger. At sundown there was a lull in the 
wind and comparative stillness. For two hours 
there were no signs of danger; but at a few minutes 
after nine o'clock, and by a singular coincidence 
precisely the time at which the Chicago fire com- 
menced, the people of the village heard a terrible 
roar. It was that of a tornado, crushing through 
the forests. Instantly the heavens were illuminated 
with a terrible glare. The sky which had been so 
dark a moment before burst into clouds of flame. 
A spectator of the terrible scene says the fire did 
not come upon them gradually from burning trees 
and other objects to the windward, but the first 
notice they had of it was a whirlwind of flame in 
great clouds from above the tops of the trees, which 
fell upon and entirely enveloped everything. The 
poor people inhaled it, or the intensely hot air, 
and fell down dead. , This is verified by the appear- 
ance of many of the corpses. They were found 
dead in the roads and open spaces, where there 
were no visible marks of fire near by, with not a 
trace of burning upon their bodies or clothing. At 
the Sugar Bush, which is an extended clearing, in 
some places four miles in width, corpses were found 
in the open road, between fences only slightly 
burned. No mark of fire was upon them, they 
lay there as if asleep. This phenomena seems to 
explain the fact that so many were killed in com- 
pact masses. They seemed to have huddled together 



THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — WISCONSIN. 373 

in what were evidently regarded at the moment as 
the safest places, away from buildings, trees or other 
inflammable material, and there to have died to- 
gether. Fences around cleared fields were burned 
in spots of only a few rods in length, and elsewhere 
not touched. Fish were killed in the streams — as 
at Peshtigo. 

Another spectator says : 

"Much has been said of the intense heat of the 
fires which destroyed Peshtigo, Menekaune, Wil- 
liamsonville, &c, but all that has been said cannot 
give the stranger even a faint conception of the 
reality. The heat has been compared to that engen- 
dered by a flame concentrated on an object by a 
blow-pipe, but even that would not account for some 
of the phenomena. For instance, we have in am 
possession a copper cent, taken from the pocket of a 
dead man in the Peshtigo Sugar Bush, which will 
illustrate our point. This cent has been partially 
fused but still retains its round form and the inscrip- 
tion upon it is legible. Others in the same pocket 
were partially melted off, and yet the clothing and 
the body of the man teas not even singed. We do 
not know any way to account for this, unless, as is 
asserted by some, the tornado and fire were accom- 
panied by electrical phenomena." 

It is the universal testimony that the prevailing 
idea among the people was that the last day had 
come. Accustomed as they were to fire, nothing like 



374 THE NORTHWESTERN FIRES. 

this had ever been known. They could give no 
other interpretation to this ominous roar, this burst- 
ing of the sky with flame, and this dropping down 
of fire out of the very heavens, consuming instantly 
everything it touched. 

No two give a like description of the great tornado 
as it smote and devoured the village. It seemed as 
if " the fiery fiends of hell had been loosened," says 
one. " It came in great sheeted flames from heaven," 
says another. "There was a pittiless rain of fire and 
sand." " The atmosphere was all afire." Some speak 
of " great balls of fire unrolling and shooting forth 
in streams." The fire leaped over roofs and trees 
and ignited whole streets at once. No one could 
stand before the blast. It was a race with death, 
above, behind and before them. 

The appearance of Peshtigo after the fire, and the 
effects of the flames is well told in a letter to the 
Milwaukee Wisconsin. The writer says : 

"Yesterday afternoon I rode out several miles 
from Menominee to the opening in the woods, where 
Peshtigo was. It is a level and sandy road, bordered 
mainly by blackened stumps and pine. We came to 
the Peshtigo opening. Fox river, where so many 
had been saved or drowned, was flowing placidly 
over the half-burnt dam ; heaps of mortar, brick and 
iron, showed where the factory, dry house, mills, 
foundry and machine works stood, — all else was a 
naked waste of drifted ashes and sand. Fording the 
river with our team, we continued our drive for a 



THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — WISCONSIN. 375 

few miles westward into the Sugar Bush settlements. 
The trees had been cut and pulled aside from the 
roa'3. Burned culverts and small bridges filled up 
with logs. Outside the road on either hand, was 
seen the work of the tornado. Great forests of 
maple, oak, beach, hemlock and pine were torn as 
by the power of a hundred whirlwinds, and hurled 
length wise and cross- wise on the ground. The 
whole forest had been mowed down like grass ; not 
one tree in twenty was standing. Mingled with the 
work of the winds, is seen the black wrath of the 
flames. Green maples and oaks, three feet in diam- 
eter, went down in a whirl, and were eaten up by 
the red flames in an hour. It was this double rage 
of tornado and flame that burst in upon the ill-fated 
village of Peshtigo. Not all the fire steamers in 
the world could have stayed its destruction. 

" Out among the clearings of the Sugar Bush, not 
a trace of fence or farm buildings is seen, but a few 
black embers by the road side and the relics of stoves 
and kettles by the chimney pile. 

"There were two hundred and twenty families 
burned out in the Sugar Bush, two hundred and fifty 
in Peshtigo, and full a hundred elsewhere in the 
track of the tornado. Nothing was saved among 
the farmers, except now and then a stray horse or 
cow and a few scanty rags that hung to their bodies. 
The villagers fared no better. A few attempted 
flight with bundles and carpet bags, but they were 
snatched up and devoured by the flames. No one 
as yet can sum up the number of the dead. One 



376 THE NORTHWESTERN FIRES. 

hundred and forty dead bodies have been found and 
identified in the lower Sugar Bush, fifty in the middle, 
and seventy-seven in the upper. It is thought that 
nearly all the form settlers have been discovered. It 
is difficult to get at the number of the Peshtigo dead. 
There were many woodsmen, railroad men, and others, 
strangers in town. Up to Saturday eighty-eight bodies 
had been found and registered, while fully as many 
more were mixed with charred bones and indistin- 
guishable remains. There were twenty-two corpses 
among the fifteen families at Birch Creek, and half as 
many up the Menominee." 

Before the fire, Peshtigo was in all respects the 
most beautiful village between Green Bay and Mar- 
quette. A six mile railroad extended to it from 
the mouth of the river, where were situated the 
great Ogden mill and pier. It contained the works 
of the Peshtigo Company, including the great tub 
and pail factory, machine shop, foundry, saw, flour 
and planing mills. The pail factory alone cost over 
$250,000 and was the largest of its kind in the 
United States. The Company's property in the 
village was estimated at a million dollars. They 
employed over five hundred workmen. The village 
proper, on both sides of the river, covered about a 
mile square, and at the time of its destruction num- 
bered about fourteen hundred people. 

The whole burned district in Wisconsin takes in 
Brown county, at the head of the Bay, and most of 
the country— say fifty miles west and seventy miles 
north on the west, and nearly the whole peninsula 




.:, 



CHURCH OF THE HOLY NAME. (ROMAN CATHOLIC.) 




ST. PAUL'S CHURCH. ( UNIVERSALIST.) 



THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — WISCONSIN. 379 

on the east to Lake Michigan. It also took in a 
strip ten to twenty miles wide on the Fox river, 
between Lake Winnebago and Green Bay. The 
fire raged in this section, more or less, for two 
months. It is estimated that about a third of the 
standing timber was killed by the fire. Up to the 
time of the great tornado on the 8th, settlers gen- 
erally had been able to save their buildings and 
crops, but lost heavily in fences, bridges, culverts, 
corduroy roads, and all wood property. 

The track of the great Sunday night tornado, on 
the west side, commenced about six miles north of 
Oconto, extending fifteen miles in width, and run- 
ning parallel thirty miles northward down the bay. 
The track on the east side, commencing in the town 
of Humboldt, twelve miles east from here, ranged 
ten miles in width, sweeping northeast forty miles 
to Big Sturgeon Bay. The west side district took 
in the village of Peshtigo, the Sugar Bush Settle- 
ments, the village of Menekaune, at the mouth of 
the Menominee, and the Birch Creek Settlement, 
eight miles beyond in the borders of Michigan. All 
were swept out of existence. 

The Green Bay region was not so sparsely popu- 
lated as is usually supposed. The census tables of 
1870 show that Oconto county then contained 8,322 
people; Door county, 4,869; Kewaunee county, 
10,281; Brown county, 25,180. Nearly every 
township in the three last named counties contained 
settlements of people engaged in farming, and 

many villages clustered about the saw mills. 

22 



380 THE NORTHWESTBRN FIRES. ' 

The people in Oconto county were generally found 
in villages, occupied at this season of the year in 
the saw mills or manufacturing establishments. The 
villages of Oconto, Peshtigo, Marinette and Pen- 
saukee had, in the aggregate, over 5,000 inhabi- 
tants. Besides the counties above named, large 
portions of the following counties have been par- 
tially swept by the fires : Manitowoc, having 33,369 
people; Calumet, 12,334; Outagamie, 18,435. All 
the Green Bay region has increased in the numbers 
of its people at least one-fifth. 

Of the losses in the farming districts immediately 
contiguous and tributary to Peshtigo, the Peshtigo 
and Marinette Eagle of October 21st, says : " Allow- 
ing, at least, two townships of good farming land 
to have been entirely devastated by the fire, one- 
half of the same was more or less improved. Esti- 
mating the loss on improvements, stock and farm 
products to have been $1,000 to each forty acres of 
such land, the loss amounts to $576,000. Valuing 
the timber on the entire tract at $500 per forty 
acres, and we have of loss $576,000 more. We 
think the foregoing estimate low enough in all con- 
science. This makes a grand total loss of property 
in Peshtigo village and vicinity of $2,883,800. 
Add losses at Menekaune, at Menominee, and 
the farms up Menominee river, and the Menomi- 
nee pine, the mill property in the vicinity and 
settlements, and the total loss will reach nearly 
$4,000,000 on that fatal and long-to-be-remembered 
Sunday night." 



THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — WISCONSIN. 381 

The roll of actual sufferers, not including those 
who had means to help themselves, was 3,500 ; the 
roll of the dead who perished in these terrible 
flames, about 1,500. 

A civil engineer doing business in Peshtigo, in a 
letter describing his escape, says : " I went to bed 
about 9 o'clock, but did not go to sleep, as there 
was considerable noise in the house (the Peshtigo 
Hotel). Before long the bells rang and the whistles 
blew for fire, but this had happened almost every 
night for a fortnight. I looked out of my window, 
but as the sky was black, I went to bed again. Be- 
fore long I looked ' again, and the sky was red. I 
then threw open the window, and the loud roar which 
I heard warned me of approaching danger." The 
writer dressed and looked out into the street, and 
though he saw no flames then, he had only time to 
assist two friends to carry out their trunks before 
the sparks flew in clouds and the smoke became 
suffocating. He immediately started for the bridge, 
and when he reached it the fire had not extended 
to the river. Before he could cross, a mill at the 
other end was in flames, presenting a fiery blockade. 
" I turned back," he says, " and for the first time 
the horror of the situation burst upon me. Fire on 
all sides; the bridge I stood on afire ; the air hot 
and full of flame; crowds of people screeching, 
cattle bellowing, horses dashing through the crowds 
and the wind blowing a hurricane. A wooden ware 
factory blew in before the fire touched it." He 
struggled back to the other end of the bridge, 






382 THE NORTHWESTERN FIRES. 

though knocked down once by cattle, threw himself 
into the water and made the best of his way up 
stream, sometimes swimming and then wading, as 
the depth allowed, to get as far from the burning 
buildings as possible. "The heat increased so 
rapidly," he continues, "as things got well afire, 
that, when about 400 feet from the bridge and the 
nearest building, I was obliged to lie down behind a 
log that was aground in about two feet of water, and 
by going under water now and then, and holding 
my head close to the water behind the log, I man- 
aged to breathe. There was a dozen others behind 
the same log. If I had succeeded in crossing the 
river and gone among the buildings on the other 
side, probably I should have been lost, as many 
were. It was thought at first that the fire would 
not cross the river, as it is here four or five hundred 
feet wide ; but it proved to be no obstacle at all, and 
those who crossed were glad enough to get back into 
the water. For about an hour I lay and gasped for 
breath, but after that the worst was over and I 
crawled upon the log to get out of the water, for it 
was very cold and I was chilled through. I lay 
there an hour and a half, and then was able to go 
ashore. It was so smoky we could not go near the 
burning ruins, so we built a rousing fire on the 
shore and tried to get dry and keep warm until 
morning. My watch ran through it all, and there- 
fore I knew the length of time I was in the water. 
Had it not been for the watch I would have thought 
I was there four hours at least." 



THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — WISCONSIN. 383 

Another statement will be all that is necessary to 
give the reader an idea of this terrible scene. Mr. 
James B. Clark, of Detroit, who was at Uniontown, 
Wisconsin, writes: "Fires were blazing through 
the forests and along the prairies in every direction. 
At sundown there was a strong breeze, which at 
9 o'clock increased to a furious gale, blowing toward 
the lake. The whole surface of the country to the 
westward, eastward and southward seemed to be 
one mass of flame, which almost reached to the 
lowering clouds, and rushed along at race-horse 
speed. Beyond, toward the lake, was the settle- 
ment of Williamson's Mills, comprising about four- 
teen families. The fire suddenly made a rush like 
the flash of a train of gun-powder, and swept in the 
shape of a crescent around the settlement. It is 
almost impossible to conceive the frightful rapidity 
of the advance of the flames. The rushing fire 
seemed to eat up and annihilate the trees. He 
says the roar of the blast was as loud as the whir 
of a great mill. As we stood looking on, say at 
about 10 o'clock, we heard another strange sound. 
Straining our eyes toward the fire — about seven 
miles distant — we could just discern something 
moving; now it would appear like a black mass, 
then it would separate into fragments, swaying to 
and fro, and bobbing up and down. It came toward 
us directly from the lurid wall of flame. So intense 
was the glare of light all about us that our eyes 
were dazed ; they ran with water, and we could see 
only by constantly using our handkerchiefs. At 



384 THE NORTHWESTERN FIRES. 

last we made out by sight and sound that the 
moving mass was a stampede of cattle and horses 
thundering toward us away from the flames, bellow- 
ing, neighing and moaning as they galloped on. 
Finally they came rushing past with fearful speed, 
their eyeballs dilated and glaring with terror, and 
every motion betokening delirium of fright. Some 
had been badly burned, and must have plunged 
through a long space of flame in the desperate effort 
to escape. Following considerably behind came a 
solitary horse, panting and snorting and nearly ex- 
hausted. He was saddled and bridled, and, as we 
first thought, had a bag lashed to his back. As he 
came up we were startled at the sight of a young 
lad lying fallen over the animal's neck, the bri- 
dle wound around his hands, and the mane being 
clinched by the fingers. Little effort was needed 
to stop the jaded horse, and at once release the 
helpless boy. He was taken into the house, and 
all that we could do was done; but he had inhaled 
the smoke, and was seemingly dying. Some time 
elapsed and he revived enough to speak. He told 
his name — Patrick Byrnes — and said: 'Father and 
mother and the children got into the wagon. I 
don't know what became of them. Everything is 
burned up. I am dying. Oh, is hell any worse 
than this 1 ' 

" The poor fellow lay in a critical condition when 
I left. The next morning we drove down to the 
settlement. The first house we came to was that 
of Patrick Byrnes, father of the lad before spoken 



THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — WISCONSIN. 385 

of. It was a heap of ashes. The brick chimney, 
the cooking stove and iron portions of farm tools 
were the only remnants of the place. The forest 
was burnt down close to the ground, the stumps 
only being left, smouldering and smoking. Every- 
thing was hot. Even the road was baked and 
cracked by the heat. About a mile further on we 
came to a horrible spectacle. Along side the road 
in a gully lay the bodies of six persons and two 
horses, roasted to a crisp. The iron tires of the 
wheels, and braces and bolts of the wagon were 
scattered about. Here the fire had surrounded and 
engulfed them. Evidently the animals in their 
mad struggles had reared, plunged, and fallen head- 
long from the road to where they died. 

"We hurried on. All along the road lay the 
carcasses of cattle, sheep, hogs and dogs, burned to 
a crisp. The smaller animals were almost entirely 
consumed. Now we came to the village. Nothing 
was left but piles of ashes, smoking and smouldering. 
In the cellar of one house we found eight bodies. 
One of a man was in a stooping position over that 
of a child, as though he died trying to ward off 
the flames. This was very likely the body of Mr. 
Williamson, the owner of the mills, who, with his 
entire family, is said to have perished. In the rear 
of the yard of the next house were four bodies, 
apparently those of a mother and her children. 
They were scorched, not burnt crisp, and one cheek 
of the youngest, a girl of six, retained an expression 
of calmness that seemed to indicate a painless death 



386 THE NORTHWESTERN FIRES. 

by suffocation. But the most horrible of all was at 
Boorman's well. Mr. Boorman's house was the 
largest in the village, and in the centre of the yard, 
midway between the house and barn, was a large 
but shallow well. Several of the neighbors were 
supplied with water from this fountain, and it is 
likely that in the conflagration, when all hope was 
cut off, the neighbors, insane with terror thronged 
with one purpose to this well. The ordinary chain 
and wheel pump used in that place had been re- 
moved, and the wretched people had leaped into the 
well as the last refuge. Boards had been thrown 
down to prevent them being drowned ; but evidently 
the relentless fury of the fire drove them pell mell 
into the pit, to struggle with each other and die — 
some by drowning, and others by fire and suffoca- 
tion. None escaped. Thirty-two bodies were found 
there. They were in every imaginable position ; 
but the contortions of their limbs and the agonizing 
expressions of their faces told the awful tale." 

Michigan. 

The destruction in Michigan was not so terrible 
to life as in Wisconsin and yet was very disastrous 
in its consequences both to property and life. The 
principal losses were in Huron and Sanilac coun- 
ties, which contained about 24,000 inhabitants. Of 
these fully 10,000 were rendered homeless, and in 
other parts of the State nearly 5,000 more. On the 
west shore of Lake Huron the towns of Verona, 



THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — MICHIGAN. 387 

New River, Sand Beach, Huron City, a portion of 
Port Hope, Crescent, Centre Harbor, Ellen Creek, 
White Rock, Paris, Cracow, Meriden, Forres tville, 
and a Polish settlement near Forrestville were ut- 
terly destroyed. Further north and on the shore 
of Lake Michigan, Muskegon and Manistee in part, 
Glen Haven on Grand Traverse Bay, and other 
settlements south of Mackinaw were burned. 

Of the losses, the State Relief Committee of 
Michigan say: "From 10,000 to 15,000 people at 
least in Michigan have lost their homes, food, 
clothing, crops, horses, and cattle. On the night 
of the Chicago fire 2,000 people on the east shore 
of Lake Michigan, and 5,000 to 6,000 on the west 
shore of Lake Huron were reduced to almost abso- 
lute destitution. Within two or three weeks other 
small villages and settlements have been blotted 
out. The number of individual farm houses, barns, 
and frontier dwellings which have been destroyed 
by the all prevailing fires cannot, from want of infor- 
mation, be accurately calculated. The fires are still 
burning and new ones spring up. The area of ruin 
and devastation is daily increasing and much suf- 
fering exists. A long, hard, and cold winter is 
approaching, and large numbers of people are 
accessible only by water, and navigation will soon 
be closed.' , 

In regard to the destruction of timber the Huron 
county News thus estimates for one county alone : 

" The loss to this county by the burning of pine 
and other valuable timber is very great. It is too 



388 THE NORTHWESTERN FIRES. 

soon to make anything like an accurate calculation 
of the total loss from this source, but from converse 
during the week with the supervisors and others 
from different parts of the country, we know we 
are safe in saying that it will exceed one million dol- 
lars. Francis Crawford, of Caseville, estimates his 
loss by the destruction of timber at $100,000. That 
of the Port Crescent Company cannot be much less. 
Of the Rock Falls pine, comprising many millions of 
feet, hardly a green tree remains. Already immense 
tracts of this burnt timber have been laid flat by the 
high winds that have since blown upon them. But 
not until spring will the full effect of the damage be 
seen ; then, when the earth becomes softened by the 
rains and departing frost, will these forest monarchs 
bow before the blast, and green timber land will 
be the exception in the country — perhaps almost a 
novelty. Where the pine is scattering, it will not 
pay to get it out from these 'wind falls;' where it 
has stood thick, much of it will be got in, though at 
a much increased cost of lumbering. During the 
next two winters doubtless an extra effort will be 
made by all our lumbermen to rescue as much of 
this pine from entire destruction as possible, — as 
the destructive worm will be busily at work, and 
the chances of further burning will be largely 
increased." 

In connection with the Michigan fires the story 
of Allison Weaver, who lived near Port Huron, is 
full of interest. A Detroit paper thus tells how 
the old veteran stayed to see it out : 



THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — MICHIGAN. 389 

"Weaver is a single man, about fifty years old, 
and served all through the war in an Ohio regiment 
of infantry. Up to two weeks ago he was at work 
for a man named Bright, ten miles from Forrestville, 
as fireman of a shingle mill. Two or three days 
before the approach of the flames, which eventually 
destroyed that section, Bright and his family left 
for Forrestville, and the next day all- the men em- 
ployed about the place either followed his example 
or made haste to reach their homes. On leaving, 
Bright informed his men that the fire would sweep 
that way, and warned them to lose no time in 
making their escape. Having no property to lose, 
or family to take care of, Weaver determined, as he 
says, ' to stay and see the circus out,' meaning that 
he intended saving the mill if possible. He has a 
stubborn sort of spirit, and the fact that everybody 
else went induced him to stay. 

" As soon as the men left he set to work and 
buried all the provisions left in the house, and 
during the day buried the knives, belts and other 
light machinery of the mill, as well as a stove and 
a lot of crockery ware. There was plenty of water 
in the vicinity of the mill, and he filled several 
barrels full, besides wetting down house, mill, stock 
and everything that would burn, scattering several 
hundred pailsful of water on the ground around 
the buildings. 

* When night came and the fire had not appeared, 
he began to jeer his absent comrades. But his self- 
conceit soon left him. About ten o'clock the 



390 THE NORTHWESTERN FIRES. 

heavens were so light that he could see the 
smallest objects around him, and there was a roaring 
in the forests which sounded like waves beating 
against rocks on the shore. 

" He began to suspect that he would soon receive 
the visit predicted, and accordingly made prepa- 
rations for it. In leveling up the ground around 
the shingle mill, earth had been obtained by digging 
here and there, and Weaver went to work and dug 
one of these pits deep enough for him to stand up in. 

" He then filled it nearly full of water, and took 
care to saturate the ground around it for a distance 
of several rods. Going to the mill, he dragged out 
a four inch plank, sawed it in two, and saw that the 
parts tightly covered the mouth of the little well. 
1 1 kalkerated it would be tech and go/ said he, ' but 
it was the best I could do.' At midnight he had 
everything arranged, and the roaring then was aw- 
ful to hear. The clearing was ten to twelve acres 
in extent, and Weaver says that for two hours before 
the fire reached him there was a constant flight across 
the ground of small animals. As he rested a 
moment from giving the house another wetting down, 
a horse dashed into the opening at full speed and 
made for the house. Weaver could see him tremble 
and shake with excitement and terror, and felt a pity 
for him. After a moment the animal gave utterance 
to a snort of dismay, ran two or three times around the 
house and then shot off into the woods like a rocket. 

" Not long after this the fire came. Weaver stood 
by his well, ready for the emergency, yet curious to 



THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — MICHIGAN. 391 

see the breaking in of the flames. The roaring in- 
creased in volume, the air became oppressive, a 
cloud of dust and cinders came showering down, and 
he could see the flame through the trees. It did not 
run along the ground, or leap from tree to tree, but 
it came on like a tornado, a sheet of flame reaching 
from the earth to the top of the trees. As it struck 
the clearing he jumped into his well, and closed 
over the planks. He could no longer see but he could 
hear. He says that the flames made no halt what- 
ever, or ceased their roaring for an instant, but he 
hardly got the opening closed before the house and 
mill were burning tinder, and both were down in five 
minutes. The smoke came down to him powerfully, 
and his den was so hot he could hardly breathe. 

" He knew that the planks above him were on 
fire, but, remembering their thickness, he waited till 
the roaring of the flames had died away, and then 
with his head and hands turned them over and put 
out the fire by dashing up water with his hands. 
Although it was a cold night, and the water had at 
first chilled him, the heat gradually wnrmed it up 
until he says that he felt very comfortable. He re- 
mained in his den until daylight, frequently turning 
over the planks and putting out the fire, and then 
the worst had passed. The earth around was on fire 
in spots, house and mill were gone, leaves, brush 
and logs were swept clean away as if shaved off and 
swept with a broom, and nothing but soot and ashes 
were to be seen. 

" After the fire had somewhat cooled off, Weaver 
made an investigation of his caches, and found that 



392 THE NORTHWESTERN FIRES. 

considerable of the property buried had been saved, 
although he lost all his provisions except a piece of 
dried beef which the fire had cooked as in an oven 
without spoiling it. He had no other resource than 
to remain around the place that day, during the 
night, and the- greater part of the next day, when 
the ground had cooled enough so that he could pick 
his way to the site of the burned village. He was 
nearly twelve hours going the twelve miles, as trees 
were falling, logs were burning, and the fallen tim- 
ber had in some places heaped up a breastwork, over 
which no one could climb." 

To these accounts we have only to add that on or 
about the 8th of October, Iowa, Minnesota, In- 
diana and Illinois were severly devastated by prairie 
fires ; that terrible fires raged on the Alleghanies, 
the Sierras, and the Rocky Mountains, and in the 
far away regions of the Red river of the North ; 
that at Halifax, N. S., a fearful gale destroyed great 
numbers of vessels ; that Montreal and Toronto were 
visited by a tornado which blew dowa numerous 
houses ; that Galveston, Texas, experienced the rav- 
ages of a tidal wave ; and that attempts were made 
to burn the cities of San Francisco, Louisville, Ky., 
Toronto and London, C. W., and Syracuse, N. Y. 
Add still to these, the Franco-German war, the fear- 
ful Chinese typhoon, the rapid spread of Asiatic 
cholera, and the unprecedented visitation of famine 
and plague combined in Persia, — and the year 187 1 
must forever be regarded as the black year of the 
world's history. 



THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — WISCONSIN. 393 



A Summing up of the Loss of Life and Property by 
the Wisconsin Fires. 

A correspondent of the Milwaukee Wisconsin, 
who has travelled through the burned regions in 
Wisconsin, thus sums up the loss of life and prop- 
erty in the country through which he passed : 

" After making a deduction for exaggerations, I 
had supposed that 500 would cover the number of 
dead on the west side of the bay. I now learn from 
reliable sources that the actual number of inter- 
ments up to Monday night counted up to 504. 
Add another hundred for remains of ashes and 
charred bones at Peshtigo, and I think we have 
not far from the true number on the west side. 
Add 150 for the east side — making 750 in all — and 
the death-roll is nearly complete. 

" It is impossible to figure the aggregate losses 
of pine timber and farm property with any degree 
of closeness. It is the interest of mill men to 
underrate the amount of fallen pine that must be 
secured this winter to save it. A medium esti- 
mate of damage to pine land in the Green Bay 
region is figured at $400,000. The damage on the 
Wolf is figured at §300,000. The loss to the fifteen 
saw mills burned, is put at $225,000. The loss of 
cord- wood, ties, hemlock bark, &c, is set at 
$200,0(i0. The losses of fences, buildings, wagons, 
cattle, crops, among the six hundred farmers, cannot 
be less than $600,000 — making a total aggregate 



394 THE NORTHWESTERN FIRES. 

of more than $3,000,000, aside from those of 
Peshligo. 

" The country through from Brown county north 
to Big Sturgeon Bay, for 400 square miles, is utterly 
devastated. At least 400 farms in this tornado 
section alone are left desolate — stripped of every 
improvement. Fences, barns, dwellings, imple- 
ments, furniture, wagons, harness, and crops, all 
went up in a ' whirlwind of fire.' It will take thirty 
years, in that cold, hard soil for their timber to 
grow again. In the aggregate, their losses must 
foot up to $1,000 a family. Farmers here have 
saved half of their teams that were let loose in the 
woods, and a third of their stock. But they have 
no hay, straw, grain or feed of any sort — not even 
the poor chance of browse in the woods. Nearly 
all, with large families, have lost their last cow and 
pig. In a ride of six miles, on nearly a straight 
line, I saw but three hens and a fanning mill — the 
only farm implement left in town. In the Belgian 
settlement, on Red river, sixty-two families were 
burned out in a row ! Not a house, not a shed, 
not a coop — not one fence-rail left upon another. 
The families had fled, almost naked, and breathless, 
to the few cabins on the outskirts that were saved. 

" There were 300 or more, wounded sufferers 
remaining in hotels, boarding houses, and hospitals 
about the bay. Fifty of the Peshtigo sufferers 
were at the Dunlap House, Marinette. Half of 
them were able to be about. Burned ears, faces, 
hands and feet were common to nearly all. There 




BIGELOW HOUSE. 




PACIFIC HOTEL. 






ILLINOIS AND MICHIGAN CENTRAL R. R. DEPOT, 
AFTER THE FIRF. 



THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — WISCONSIN. 397 

were women with great burns on the sides and 
limbs, with faces like kettles and hands like claws, 
burned to the bones. Men could fight better, and 
dare more than women. Most of them perished 
by suffocation. Little children are sadly maimed 
in their feet and faces. I saw one with a heel 
gone, and another with an eye. Nearly all will 
recover without loss of sight or limb. I could fill a 
book with stories of the hospital. Most of them 
suffer more from hurts of mind than body. I have 
a sad memory of a poor widow who lost her crip- 
pled boy, who went on crutches, and a sprightly 
girl, who fell between the burning logs. They were 
all her family. ' The screams of both/ she said, 
' seemed forever sounding in my ears.' There is a 
future, and no doubt compensations for all these 
suffering ones. 

" Most of these cabins that are left are crowded 
with two or three families each. I saw one with 
four men, five women, and sixteen children — two 
of them suckers. They had just received an out- 
fit of clothing — warm stockings, knit hoods, thin 
shawls, thin gaiters, and light colored dresses for 
the women and girls ; old fashioned hats, bursted 
boots, thin jackets, and summer coats and pants for 
men and boys. There were some occasions of 
laughter, but none of ridicule ; all were glad and 
surprised at getting what they did. I saw no imme- 
diate want of provisions. Flour, pork and hard 
bread are distributed to all — packages of tea and 

coffee to most. There are nearly potatoes enough 

23 



398 THE NORTHWESTERN FIRES. 

in the country, if distributed. Their stock that 
is left has been driven off to meadows and fields 
not burned over. One large-hearted old farmer was 
keeping eighty odd cattle belonging to his unfortu- 
nate neighbors. Without stopping to consider the 
ways of Providence, or the uses of philosophy, 
these simple-minded people seem to have under- 
stood the art of helping one another." 



THE GREAT FIRES OF THE WORLD. 



Rome, A. D. 64> 

A history of the great Chicago conflagration would 
be incomplete without some allusion to the other 
great fires in the history of the world, by means of 
which comparisons in losses and extent may be 
made. The first which naturally occurs to the 
memory is the destruction of Rome, thus narrated 
by Tacitus : 

"There followed a dreadful disaster; whether 
fortuitously, or by the wicked contrivance of the 
prince (Nero), is not determined, for both are as- 
serted by historians — but of all calamities which 
ever befell this city from the rage of fire, this was 
the most terrible and severe. It broke out in that 
part of the circus which is contiguous to Mounts 
Palatine and Ccelius, where, by reason of shops, in 
which were kept such goods as minister aliment to 
fire, the moment it commenced it acquired strength, 
and being accelerated by the wind, it spread at once 
through the whole extent of the circus ; for neither 
were the houses secured by enclosures, nor the tem- 
ples environed with walls ; nor was there any other 

obstacle to intercept its progress ; but the flames 

(399) " 



400 THE GREAT FIRES OF THE WORLD. 

spreading every way impetuously, invaded first the 
lower regions of the city, then mounted to the 
highest; then again, ravaging the lower, it baffled 
every effort to extinguish it, by the rapidity of its 
destructive course, and from the liability of the city 
to conflagration in consequence of the narrow and 
intricate alley, and the irregularity of the streets in 
ancient Rome. Add to this the wailings of terrified 
women, the infirm condition of the aged, and the 
helplessness of childhood ; such as strove to provide 
for themselves, and those who labored to assist 
others; these dragging the feeble, these waiting for 
them ; some hurrying, others lingering ; altogether 
created a scene of universal confusion and embar- 
rassment ; and while they looked upon the danger 
in the rear, they often found themselves beset before 
and on their sides ; or if they had escaped into the 
quarters adjoining, these, too, were already seized by 
the devouring flames; even the parts which they 
believed remote and exempt, were found to be in 
the same distress. At last, not knowing what to 
shun or even where to seek sanctuary, they crowded 
the streets and lay along the open fields. Some from 
the loss of their whole substance, even the means of 
their daily sustenance, others from their afflictions 
for their relations, whom they had not been able to 
snatch from the flames suffered themselves to perish 
in them, though they had an opportunity to flee. 
Neither dared any man attempt to check the fire, 
so repeated were the menaces of many who forbade 
to extinguish it, and because others openly threw 



MOSCOW. 401 

fire-brands, with loud declarations, ' that they had 
one who authorized them;' whether they did it 
that they might plunder with less restraint or with 
orders given. 

" At length, on the sixth day the conflagration 
was stayed at the foot of Esquilse, by pulling down 
an immense quantity of buildings, so that an open 
space, and as it were, void air, might check the 
raging element by breaking the continuity. But 
ere the consternation had subsided the fire broke 
out afresh, with no little violence, but in regions 
more spacious, and therefore with less destruction 
of human life, but more extensive havoc was made 
of the temples and porticos dedicated to amuse- 
ment. * * Nero seemed to aim at the glory of 
building a new city, and calling it by his own 
name ; for of the fourteen sections into which Kome 
is divided, four were still standing entire, three were 
levelled with the ground, and in the seven others 
there remained only here and there a few remnants 
of houses, shattered and half consumed." 



Moscow, 1812. 

It will be remembered that on the 15th of Sep- 
tember, 1812, the French Emperor entered the 
city, which the Russians had resolved to sacrifice. 
Allison says : 

"On the night of the 14th a fire broke out in 
the Bourse, behind the bazaar, which soon con- 



402 THE GREAT FIRES OF THE WORLD. 

sumed that noble edifice, and spread to a considera- 
ble part of the crowded streets in the vicinity. 
This, however, was but the prelude to more 
extended calamities. At midnight on the loth, a 
bright light was seen to illuminate the northern 
and western parts of the city ; and the sentinels on 
watch at the Kremlin soon discovered the splendid 
edifices in that quarter to be in flames. The wind 
changed repeatedly during the night, but to what- 
ever quarter it veered the conflagration extended 
itself; fresh fires were every instant seen breaking 
out in all directions, and Moscow soon exhibited 
the spectacle of a sea of flame agitated by the wind. 
The soldiers, drowned in sleep or overcome by 
intoxication, were incapable of arresting its pro- 
gress; and the burning fragments floating through 
the hot air, began to fall on the roofs and courts of 
the Kremlin. The fury of an autumnal tempest 
added to the horrors of the scene ; it seemed as if 
the wrath of Heaven had combined with the ven- 
geance of man to consume the invaders of the city 
they had conquered. 

61 But it was chiefly during the nights of the 1 8th 
and 19th that the conflagration attained its greatest 
violence. At that time the whole city was wrapped 
in flames, and volumes of fire of various colors 
ascended to the heavens in many places, diffusing a 
prodigious light on all sides, and attended by an intoler- 
able heat. These balloons of flame were accompanied 
in their ascent by a frightful hissing noise and loud 
explosions, the effect of the vast stores of oil, resin, 



Moscow. 403. 

tar, spirits, and other combustible materials with 
which the greater part of the shops were filled. 
Large pieces of painted canvass, unrolled from the 
outside of the buildings by the violence of the heat, 
floated on fire in the atmosphere, and sent down on 
all sides a flaming shower, which spread the confla- 
gration in quarters even the most removed from 
where it originated. The wind, naturally high, was 
raised by the sudden rarefaction of the air produced 
by the heat, to a perfect hurricane. The howling 
of the tempest drowned even the roar of the confla- 
gration ; the whole heavens were filled with the 
whirl of the volumes of smoke and flame which rose 
on all sides, and made midnight as bright as day ; 
while even the bravest hearts, subdued by the sub- 
limity of the scene, and the feeling of human 
impotence in the midst of such elemental strife, 

sank and trembled in silence. 

* # # # 

" Meanwhile the flames, fanned by the tem- 
pestuous gale, advanced with frightful rapidity, 
devouring alike in their course the palaces of the 
great, the temples of religion, and the cottages of 
the poor. For thirty-six hours, the conflagration 
continued at its height, and during that time above 
nine-tenths of the city was destroyed. The re- 
mainder abandoned to pillage and deserted by its 
inhabitants, offered no resources to the army. Mos- 
cow had been conquered ; but the victors had 
gained only a heap of ruins. It is estimated that 



404 THE GREAT FIRES OF THE WORLD. 

30,800 houses were consumed, and the total value 
of property destroyed amounted to £30,000,000." 



London, 1666. 

We must go back more than a couple of cen- 
turies to find a parallel to the terrible fire which has 
wrapped the city of Chicago in a sea of resistless 
flame. On the 2d of September, 1 666, the city of 
London was almost entirely destroyed by what has 
since been known as the Great Fire. This awful 
conflagration gained headway with the same terri- 
ble rapidity as that of Sunday night, and in five 
dreadful days of ruin and terror and panic laid 
two-thirds of the English metropolis in ashes. Like 
the fire at Chicago, it broke but upon a Sunday, 
though at a different hour — two o'clock in the 
morning. Nearly two-thirds of the entire city was 
destroyed. Thirteen thousand houses, eighty-nine 
churches and many public buildings were reduced 
to charred wood and ashes. Three hundred and 
seventy-three acres, within, and sixty-three acres 
without the walls were utterly devastated. 



New York, 1835-1843. 

That great event in the history of New York, 
the " great fire," occurred on the night of the 16th 
of December, 1835. At between eight and nine 
o'clock of the evening above stated, the fire was dis- 



NEW YORK — PITTSBURGH. 405 

covered in the store No. 25 Merchant street, a 
narrow street that led from Pearl into Exchange 
street, near where the post office then was. The 
flames spread rapidly, and at ten o'clock forty of 
the most valuable dry goods stores in the city were 
burned down or on fire. In all, 530 buildings were 
destroyed ; they were of the largest and most costly 
description, and were rilled with the most valuable 
goods. The total loss, estimated at about $20,000,- 
000, was afterwards found to be about $15,000,000. 
Of the buildings destroyed the most important were 
the Merchants' Exchange, the Post Office, the offices 
of the celebrated bankers, the Josephs, the Aliens 
and the Livingstons, the Phoenix Bank, and the 
building owned and occupied by Arthur Tappan, 
then much despised for his anti-slavery sympathies. 
The second great fire in New York began on the 
morning of the 20th of July, 1843. Altogether 
about 300 buildings were destroyed, among which 
were the costly shrines of commerce and finance 
and the abodes of the poverty stricken. A liberal 
estimate of the total loss is made at $6,000,000. 



Pittsburgh, 1845. 

Pittsburgh, Pa., was visited by a most destructive 
conflagration the 10th of April, 1845. By it a very 
large portion of the city was laid waste, and a 
greater number of houses destroyed than by all the 
fires that had occurred previously to it. Twenty 



406 THE GREAT FIRES OF THE WORLD. 

squares, containing about 1,100 buildings, were 
burned over ; the loss was estimated at $10,000,000. 



Philadelphia, 1865. 

In 1865, Philadelphia was the theatre of a terri- 
ble conflagration. The loss of property amounted 
to about $500,000, and fifty buildings were de- 
stroyed. On Ninth street, from Washington to 
Federal street, every building was burned. 

San Francisco, 1851. 

The most disastrous conflagration in San Fran- 
cisco began on the 3d of May, 1851, and was not 
entirely checked until the 5th inst. The loss 
caused by it amounted to $3,500,000 ; 2,500 build- 
ings were destroyed. Another large fire devas- 
tated a great portion of San Francisco in June, 
1851. It occurred on the 22d of that month, and 
500 buildings were destroyed by it. The loss was 
estimated at $3,000,000. 



Portland, 1866. 

The terrible fire which laid in ruins more than 
half the city of Portland, Me., commenced at five 
o'clock on the afternoon of the 4th of July, 1866. 
Beginning in a cooper's shop at the foot of High 
street, caused by a fire- cracker being thrown among 



CHARLESTON — CEICAGO. 407 

some wood shavings, it swept through the city with 
frightful rapidity. Two thousand persons were ren- 
dered homeless. In all the loss was estimated at 
$10,000,000. 



Charleston, 1888. 

Charleston, 8. C, was on the 27th of April, 1838, 
visited by one of the most destructive fires that has 
ever occurred in any city in this country. A territory 
equal to almost one-half of the entire city was made 
desolate. The fire broke out at a quarter past eight 
o'clock on the morning of the day mentioned, in a 
paint shop on King street, corner of Beresford, and 
raged until about twelve a. m. of the following day. 
It was then arrested by the blowing up of buildings 
in its path. There were 1,158 buildings destroyed, 
and the loss occasioned was about $3,000,000. The 
worst feature of the catastrophe was the loss of life 
which occurred while the houses were being blown 
up. Through the careless manner in which the 
gun powder was used four of the most prominent 
citizens of the city were killed and a number 
injured. 



Chicago, 1857, 1850, 1S66, 186 8. 

On the morning of the 10th of October, 1857, a 
fire occurred in Chicago which, though notable from 
the amount of property destroyed, was made awful 



403 THE GREAT FIRES OF THE WORLD. 

by the loss of human life which it caused. The fire 
broke out in a large double store in South Water 
street, and spread east and west to the buildings 
adjoining and across an alley in the rear, to a block 
of new buildings. All these were completely de- 
stroyed. When the flames were threatening one 
of the buildings a number of persons ascended to 
its roof to fight against them. Wholly occupied 
with their work, they did not notice that the wall 
of the burning building tottered, and when warned 
of their danger they could not escape ere it fell, 
crashing through the house on which they were, and 
carrying them into its cellar. Of the number four- 
teen were killed and more injured. The loss in 
property caused by the fire amounted to over half a 
million of dollars. 

A fire the most disastrous after that of October, 
1857, took place on September 15th, 1859. It broke 
out in a stable, and, spreading in different directions, 
consumed the block bounded by Clinton, North, 
Canal, West Lake and Fulton streets, on which the 
stable was situated. From this block the fire was 
communicated to Blatchford's lead works and to the 
hydraulic mills, whence it passed to another block 
of buildings, all of which were destroyed. The 
total loss was about $500,000. 

Property to the amount of $500,000 was destroyed 
by fire on the 10th of August, 1866. The fire origi- 
nated in a wholesale tobacco establishment on South 
Water street, and passed to the adjoining buildings 
occupied by wholesale grocery and drug firms. The 



I 



OTHER GREAT FIRES. 409 

first two buildings and contents were utterly, while 
the other was but partially, destroyed. 

A fire, which destroyed several large business 
houses on Lake and South Water streets, took place 
November 18th, 1866. It originated in the tobacco 
warehouse of Banker & Co., and the loss caused by it 
was about $500,000. 

The fire which occurred on the 28th of January, 
1868, was the most destructive by which Chicago 
had ever been visited. It broke out in a large boot 
and shoe factory on Lake street, and destroyed the 
entire block on which that building was situated. 
The sparks from those buildings set fire to others 
distant from them on the same street, and caused 
their destruction. In all the loss was about $3,000,- 
000. 

* Other Great Fires* 

The other great fires of the world have been as 
follows : 

Norfolk, Va., destroyed by fire and the cannon 
balls of the British. Property to the amount of 
$1,500,000 destroyed. January 1st, 1776. 

City of New York, soon after passing into pos- 
session of the British ; 500 buildings consumed. 
September 20th and 21st, 1776. 

Theatre at Richmond, Va. The governor of the 
State and a large number of the leading inhabitants 
perished. December 26th, 1811. 



410 THE GREAT FIRES OF THE WORLD. 

City of New York; 530 buildings destroyed; loss 
$20,000,000. December 16th, 1835. 

Washington City. General post office and patent 
office, with over ten thousand valuable models, draw- 
ings, &c, destroyed. December 15th, 1&36. 

Philadelphia ; 52 buildings destroyed ; loss, $500,- 
000. October 4th, 1839. 

Quebec, Canada; 1,500 buildings and many lives 
destroyed. May 28th, 1845. 

Quebec, Canada ; 1,300 buildings destroyed. 
June 28th, 1845. 

City of New York; 300 buildings destroyed; loss 
§6,000,000. June 20th, 1845. 

St. John's, N. F. ; nearly destroyed ; 6,000 people 
made homeless. June 12th, 1846. 

Quebec, Canada ; theatre royal ; 47 persons 
burned to death. June 14th, 1846. 

Xantucket; 300 buildings and other property 
destroyed; value, $800,000. July 13th, 1846. 

At Albany; 600 buildings, steamboats, piers, 
&c, destroyed; loss, $3,000,000. August 17th, 1848. 

Brooklyn, 300 buildings destroyed. September 
9 th, 1848. 

At St. Louis, 15 blocks of houses and 23 steam- 
boats ; loss estimated at $3,000,000. May 1 7th, 1 849. 



OTHER GREAT FIRES. 411 

Frederick ton, N. B. ; about 300 buildings de- 
stroyed. November 11th, 1850. 

Nevada, Cal. ; 200 buildings destroyed; loss 
$1,300,000. March 12th, 1851. 

At Stockton, Cal. ; loss, $1,500,000. May 11th, 
1851. 

Concord, N. H. ; greater part of the business 
portion of the town destroyed. August 24th, 1850. 

Congressional library, at Washington. 35,000 
volumes, with works of art destroyed. December 
24th, 1851. 

At Montreal, Canada, 1,000 houses destroyed ; 
loss, $5,000,000. July 8th, 1852. 

Harper Brothers' establishment, in New York ; 
loss over $1,000,000. December 10th, 1853. 

Metropolitan hall and Lefarge house, in New 
York. January 8th, 1854. 

At Jersey City, 30 factories and houses de- 
stroyed. July 30th, 1854. 

More than 100 houses and factories in Troy, N. 
Y ; on the same day a large part of Milwaukee, 
Wis., destroyed. August 25th, 1854. 

At Syracuse, N. Y., about 100 buildings de- 
stroyed; loss, $1,000,000. November 8th, 1«56. 

New York Crystal Palace destroyed. October 
5th, 1858. 



412 THE GREAT FIRES OF THE WORLD. 

City of Charleston, S. C, almost destroyed. Feb- 
ruary 17th, 1856. 

At Quebec, Canada, 2,500 houses destroyed ; loss 
$2,500,000. 

For comparison with these data are the following 
facts connected with the Chicago fire. The area 
of Chicago, including the recently annexed terri- 
tory west of Western avenue, and also including 
streets, etc., is over 23,000 acres. Of this the 
South Division embraces 5,363, arid the North 
Division, 2,5 3 3 \. The total number of buildings 
in this city was about 60,000, of which about 
17,000 were on the south and 10,500 on the north 
side of the river. On the north side there were 
many elegant dwelling houses, but they were nearly 
all east of Wells street and north of North avenue, 
those lying near the river being of a very inferior 
class. There were also large sections on the north 
side on which there were no houses. The district 
between the North Branch and the Ogden Canal 
on one side, and Lincoln Park and the Old Cemetery 
on the other, were unoccupied, and there was much 
vacant ground further up on the North Branch. 

On the south side the fire destroyed nearly every- 
thing in the First and Second Wards, and a light por- 
tion in the northwest corner of the Third. Its 
southern limit on Michigan avenue was Congress 
street; on Clark, Harrison, and on Wells street, a 
point a little below Polk. The area of the burned 
district is 450 acres. There were destroyed 3,600 




METHODIST CHURCH BLOCK. 




ST. JOSEPH'S PRIORY-GERMAN CATHOLIC. 



OTHER GREAT FIRES. 415 

buildings, including 1,600 stores, 28 hotels, and 60 
manufacturing establishments. 

On the north side, 1,300 acres were burned over 
out of the 2,500 in that division. The total num- 
ber of buildings destroyed was 1^,000 including 
over 600 stores and 100 manufacturing establish- 
ments. 

While the amount of ground burned over in the 
West Division was not great, not exceeding 150 
acres — and while much of that was occupied by 
lumber yards, etc., those who did live there were 
very closely packed together, so that between one 
and two thousand people must have dwelt in the 
burned district. The value of the houses destroyed 
was comparatively small, they being nearly all frame 
buildings. 

The whole immense area of the West Division, 
with its miles of dwelling houses, its stores and 
business blocks, is almost intact, while the south 
side retains the great mass of its dwelling houses 
of the better class, many manufactories, some of its 
finest churches, and the innumerable manufactories 
of the better class. 

A city of 290,000 inhabitants is still in existence, 
with the energy to rebuild the burned district, and 
once more make it the scene of active labor and 
business enterprise. 

24 



416 THE GREAT FIRES OF THE WORLD. 

Fire in the Air— A Remarkable Tlieory. 

A writer in the New York Evening Post sets up 
a remarkable theory in regard to great fires. He 
says: On the night of the 27th of December, 1835, 
I was sitting with a literary friend, about 9 o'clock, 
in one of the private boxes of Hamblin's magnifi- 
cent Bowery Theatre. Suddenly the big bell of the 
City Hall boomed loud and long over the metropo- 
lis, and " Fire ! " "Fire! " echoed around and within 
the theatre. We were all, in an instant, rushing 
out of the slamming doors, and onward toward the 
scene of the conflagration, which was "glaring on 
night's startled eye" away down town. 

When we reached Wall street, near Water, the 
Tontine Coffee House had caught, and dark smoke 
in huge masses, tinged with flickering flashes of 
bright flame, was bursting from all the upper win- 
dows. The night, as all who were out in it will 
remember,* was intensely cold. There was but little 
wind, but as the fire advanced there was plainly per- 
ceptible the " food of fire " in the air, as I firmly 
believe there always is in all great conflagrations ; 
something mysterious as yet, and unexplainable. 
It was so in our great fire, for I saw its evidences 
myself, and I see that reports of the same evidences 
are mentioned as features of the still more terrible 
and vastly greater conflagration in Chicago, which 
has "roused the world." Science, there is but little 
doubt, will find out, by-and-by, what this mysterious 
power is, and tell us how it is worked and how it 



FIRE IN THE AIR. 417 

may be guarded against if not conquered. Whether 
it is atmospheric or electric, or whatever else it may 
be, is yet to be determined. A word or two more 
concerning this a little further on. 

Our great fire travelled south and west faster than 
a man could walk. Water froze in all the gutters ; 
thick ice coated all the hydrants, crunched in the 
hose pipes that encumbered the streets, and lay in 
"floes" where there was a shadow from the heat 
and the flame. But in a little while no water was 
wanted. Engines were soon useless ; and no ener- 
getic " Sykesy " was required to " take the butt." 
Clouds of smoke, like dark mountains suddenly 
rising into the air, were succeeded by long banners 
of flame, rushing to the zenith, and roaring for 
their prey. Street after street caught the terrible 
torrent, until over acre after acre there was rolling 
and booming an ocean of flame! "All of this I saw, 
and part of it I was." The printing office of the 
Knickerbocker, at first in South William street, 
was moved three times far beyond the prevailing 
fire, but was gradually followed by the raging 
enemy, and finally devoured. 

As we were standing upon the roof of the Ex- 
change, looking down upon the scene when in mid- 
progress, buildings far beyond the line of fire, and 
in no contact with it, burst into flames from the in- 
terior. The same thing, I observe, happened in 
Chicago, and was attributed to incendiaries ; but 
there was no incendiaries suspected in our great fire. 
What latent power enkindled the inside of these 



418 THE GREAT FIRES OF THE WORLD. 



advanced buildings, while externally they were un- 
touched? A scientific writer at the time contended, 
I think in the old Daily Advertiser, that at a certain 
period there is what he called an "inflammable 
vacuum" in the air, which is self-igniting and irre- 
sistible. Perhaps a hundred years or so from now, 
some safeguard against this mysterious element, now 
lying latent and sleeping in nature, may be dis- 
covered. It is not so very long since the old tea- 
kettle first lifted its lid to the science of steam, and 
talking round the world under water is a much 
younger wonder. 



APPENDIX. 



The Origin of the Fire. 

Just as our volume is about to go to press an 
official investigation as to the origin and progress 
of the fire has commenced in Chicago, and we ap- 
pend the most relevant portions of the testimony 
thus far (Nov. 27) taken, as it throws some addi- 
tional light upon the commencement of the great 
conflagration. 

The Fire-alarm Operator. 

' William J. Brown, the operator in the fire-alarm 
office, testified that he was on duty in the fire-alarm 
office, in the court house, on the night of the 8th of 
October. Mr. Schaffer, the watchman in the tower, 
notified him, about half-past nine o'clock, that there 
was a fire, and told him to strike Box No. 342. He 
sent that box over the wires to the engine houses, 
and then looked out of the office window facin<>- 
south, and saw the reflection in the sky. In a short 
time the watchman pulled him again, and said he 
had been mistaken — that the fire was not so fat off 
as he had thought when he gave him Box No. 342, 
which is located on the corner of Halsted street and 

♦ (410) 



420 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

Canal port avenue. As the box was on the line of 
the fire, Brown thought the firemen would not be 
misled, so he did not strike a nearer box. If he did 
so, confusion might ensue. About ten minutes after 
the first alarm he struck a second, giving the same 
box. A few seconds afterwards several boxes were 
turned in, and thinking they were for the same con- 
flagration, he did not pay any attention to them, as 
a second alarm had been given. Observing from the 
window that the fire was increasing, he sounded a 
third alarm, but did not cause the court house bell 
to be rung. He was relieved by Mr. Fuller, about 
quarter after twelve o'clock, and left the office. He 
went to the corner of Randolph and Canal streets, 
and, after remaining there a few moments, started 
down Canal to Madison street. He crossed the 
bridge and went south on Market street and saw 
that a number of shanties near the gas works were 
on fire. The gas works were not ignited up to that 
time. He saw one steamer at work near the corner 
of Monroe and Market streets, the pipemen having 
their hose lead into an alley near FarwelPs ware- 
house and playing on some wooden buildings which 
were ablaza He saw another engine, the Coventry, 
he thought, while he was going through the blocks 
to get to Madison street. He could not tell whether 
she was working or not. When he reached La Salle 
street, near Madison, he saw that the rear of the 
Oriental Block was all on fire. The air wa sfull of 
cinders and burning -material, and he made his way 
to the court house, where he remained until the 



APPENDIX. 



421 



watchmen were driven out of the cupola, and the 
office was on fire. 

The Court House Watchman. 

Matthias Schaffer, watchman in the court house, 
corroborated the statement of Mr. Brown in regard 
to the alarms given. After he told Brown to strike 
Box No. 342, he took another look at the fire, and 
was satisfied that he had located it about a mile 
south of where it really was, and he informed the 
operator of it. He was relieved at eleven o'clock 
by Dennis Denene, but he remained in the cupola. 
Sparks in large numbers and burning material of 
different kinds were blown over the court house 
within half an hour after he had given the first 
alarm. The wind was " terribly strong." He con- 
tinued watching the fire until twelve o'clock. Twice 
before that hour the cupola of the court house 
caught fire, and he got on the roof and stamped out 
the fire with his feet. This occurred before the fire 
fiend had crossed to the South Division. Some men 
had been fixing up the clock in the cupola and left 
a lot of shavings on the floor. The glass in the win- 
dow had been broken, and the sparks went through 
the openings. There was a window on the south side 
of the cupola that never had any glass in it since 
he had been on duty in the tower, and sparks were 
blown into the cupola there and set fire to the wood- 
work. He crawled in and tried to stop the spread 
of the flames, but was driven out by the smoke. He 



422 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

had no way of putting it out, and had to let it burn. 
Between ten and eleven o'clock, he could not tell 
the exact tim8, but thought it was ten o'clock, he 
descried what appeared to be a new fire, four or fife 
blocks north of the one he had given an alarm for ; 
about twelve o'clock he left the court house, and 
went to look at the south side fire. The wind was 
so strong that he could hardly stand up. He returned 
to the court house, and helped put out two more fires 
in the roof. His clothes caught fire several times, 
and he was obliged to keep constant watch to pre- 
vent being burned up himself. He and the other 
men thought they could save the court house, but 
after the sparks went through the open window al- 
luded to and set the under side of the roof on fire, 
he knew it could net be done. He halloed to Denene, 
who was then on watch in the tower, to come down 
or he would be cut off. He could not get. down the 
stairs, but had to slide down the banisters, his 
whiskers being scorched, and his hands and face 
badly burned during his progress. Every one had 
to leave the building then to save their lives. When 
he was driven out of the building he notified the 
jailor in the basement that the court house was 
going " sure," and that he must take care of the 
prisoners, and not let them burn up. From seven to 
ten minutes after this the cupola fell in. 



APPENDIX. 423 

Mrs. O'Leary, 

The owner of the cow, now so famous, which it 
was claimed, kicked over the lamp and started the 
fire, testified, that she and her family — her husband 
and five children — were in bed, but not asleep on 
that Sunday night. They knew nothing of the fire 
until Mr. Sullivan, drayman, who lives on the south 
side of DeKoven street, awoke them and said their 
barn was on fire. She took a look at the barn and 
saw that it could not be saved. She became almost 
crazy on account of losing all her property — a barn, 
wagons, harness, six co'ws and a hor>e — and was 
very much excited. There were three barns — two 
besides her own — on fire at the same time. A 
family named McLaughlin lived in the same house 
with her, and she understood they were having a 
"social time" on that Sunday night; that they had 
an oyster supper, and a Mrs. White had told her 
that one of the family went into the barn to milk 
one of the cows. She had no knowledge of it and 
could not say whether it was true or not. The first 
she saw of the fire engines was one playing on Tur- 
ner's Block, on the corner of Jefferson and DeKoven 
streets. She thought it was a good while between 
the time the fire broke out and when she saw the 
steamer, but it might have been working some time 
before she saw it. She was so excited in looking 
after her family and property that she didn't take 
notice of much else. 



424 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 



Catharine Sullivan, 

Who lives on DeKoven street, east of Jefferson, 
was washing dishes when she saw a bright reflection 
on the window panes of her dwelling. She ran into 
the street, and saw that O'Leary's barn and two others 
east of it were on fire. She had heard that the 
O'Leary's were asleep at the time, and that somebody- 
awoke them. Her house caught fire several times, and 
citizens threw pailsful of water on it. Her son and 
Dennis Eogan woke the O'Leary's. She did not 
know of her own knowledge, whether there was a 
party in O'Leary's dwelling, but she had heard that 
there was. Pat. McLaughlin, the fiddler, lived in 
the front part of O'Leary's house. "Ton her 
word," she could not tell how long a time elapsed 
after she saw the fire until the engines made their 
appearance. 

Dennis Rogan, 

Of No. 112 DeKoven street, was in O'Leary's 
house about half- past 8 o'clock on Sunday night. 
O'Leary and his wife were in bed. He asked the 
woman why she went to bed so early, and she said 
it was because she had a " sore fut." He went 
home, and after he had gone to bed — sometime 
after 9 o'clock- — he heard a neighbor say that 
O'Leary's barn was on fire. He jumped up and 
ran around to the barn and tried to save a wagon 
that was there, but be could not. The heat drove 
him away. There was company at "McLaughlin, the 



APPENDIX. 425 

fiddler's" and he heard music in there. He did not 
know who was present. It was a quarter of an 
hour, he thought, before the engines came. There 
was a high wind at the time, and the sparks were 
blown away some distance. 



Catharine McLaughlin, 

Of No. 137 DeKoven street, testified that she had 
lived in the front part of O'Leary's house, but did 
not reside there now. She knew nothing about the 
origin of the fire. Some one cried out " Fire," and 
she looked around the side of the house and saw 
O'Leary's barn was burning, and the rear part of 
Mr. Dalton's house was just igniting. There were 
five young men and two young women at her house 
that night. A "greenhorn" cousin of hers, had just 
arrived from Ireland and her friends and cousins 
came in to see him. Her husband played two tunes 
on his fiddle, and one of the women danced a 
"bout" and another a polka. That was all the 
dancing that was done. One of the company went 
out once or twice during the evening, and brought 
in half a gallon of beer. They didn't eat anything, 
and she didn't cook anything — did not start the 
stove. "Before God, this day," she didn't cook 
anything. The company was in the house at the 
time the fire broke out. She got along pleasantly 
with Mrs. O'Leary, and assisted in saving the house 
from being destroyed. Boys could go into the alley 
near the barn, as there was nothing to prevent 



426 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

them. She did not notice any engines when she 
went to look where the fire was ; but a few min- 
utes afterward there was a steamer on the corner of 
Jefferson and DeKoven streets. She could not tell 
exactly how long a time elapsed between the dis- 
covery of the fire and the arrival of the engines ; 
but she thought about ten minutes. She did not 
know whether Mrs. O'Leary was in the habit of 
milking her cows at night. She lived in the front 
part of the house, and the barn could have been 
turned upside down and she would not have known 
it. Mrs. O'Leary generally did the milking about 
5 o'clock. The barn was about forty feet from the 
house. None of the company went out to get milk 
for punch. She never had such a thing in the 
house, khe did not know, of her own knowledge, 
that Mrs. O'Leary had saved a calf from the barn. 

Patrick O'Leary, whose wife owned the alleged 
kicking cow, said he was in bed and didn't know 
anything about the start of the fire. When he saw 
it, only his barn w T as ablaze. He got on the roof 
of his house to protect it, but not " before his barn 
and the whole city was burned down." Dan Sulli- 
van called him out of bed, and told him his barn 
was on fire. He put his children into the street, 
and then threw water on his little house until after 
one o'clock in the morning. He didn't see any 
engines for a little while. One fireman, with a 
stream, asked him if he was insured, and he said 
"No," and the water was taken away from his 
house. He could not tell what time the engines 



APPENDIX. 427 

arrived. Water was thrown on his house by the 
pipemen. " They had enough to do beside that." 
He did not know how the fire started. He had no 
knowledge of it. " If he was to be hanged for it 
he couldn't tell. He didn't blame any man in 
America for it." His " woman" went to bed about 
eight o'clock, and he followed her half an hour 
afterward. He was asleep when Sullivan woke 
him, or he would have saved a cow. Both doors 
of the barn were open — the alley door and the one 
on the south side of the building. The latter was 
nailed back so that it could not be shut. On the 
right hand side of the barn, going north, there 
were some shavings and wood, and in a shed out- 
side were some coal and more wood. He some- 
times sprinkled shavings in the barn for his horse 
to stand on. He thought the neighbors had shav- 
ings in their dwellings. The wind was very high, 
and the fire spread very rapidly. 

Daniel Sullivan, of No. 134 DeKoven street, was 
in O'Leary's house about eight o'clock in the even- 
ing, and remained there about one hour. O'Leary, 
and all his " young ones," except two, were in bed. 
He asked the " old woman" why she went to bed so 
early, and she said she didn't feel well. While he 
was there O'Leary told the two children who were up 
to <*o to bed. He left the house, and, while on the 
opposite side of the street, at twenty or twenty-five 
minutes past nine o'clock, he saw fire in O'Leary's 
barn. He ran across the street as fast as he could— 
he has a wooden leg — and cried out " Fire" as loud 



428 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

as he could, which was very loud, as he has strong 
lungs. He entered the barn, intending to cut the 
ropes with which the cows were tied. He cut two 
of them loose, but as they did not seem inclined to 
leave, and the fire was increasing, he thought he 
had better depart. As he was making for the door, 
his wooden leg went between two boards, and he 
half fell over, catching himself on his sound leg. 
He caught hold of the wall and pulled himself out, 
and just then saw a calf with a rope around its 
neck. The hair on its back was on fire, and when 
he caught hold of the rope it jumped six feet into 
the air. He pulled it out of the barn ; and, when 
he reached the yard, he looked back and felt like a 
" whipped dog," because he hadn't saved the cows. 
O'Leary's house was, by this time, on fire, and 
a man named Kagin came along and shoved in the 
door, and awoke the inmates. Leary came to the 
door, and scratched his head as " if there was a foot 
of lice in it." His wife came out also, and clapped 
her hands for grief on account of her cows being 
burned up. The fire appeared to be on the right 
side of the barn [where O'Leary said the shavings 
were kept — Rep.] He did not notice any one 
leaving McLaughlin's house. If *any one had left he 
would have seen him. His mother kept a cow, and 
he frequently went to O'Leary's barn to get feed; 
and thus knew how the cows were tied. He had 
never noticed shavings on the right side of the barn. 
Wood and shavings were kept in the shed adjoin- 
ing the barn. There was no fire in the shed when 



APPENDIX. 429 

he got there. Quite a time elapsed before the 
engines arrived — from ten to fifteen minutes. There 
was any quantity of shavings in the houses of the 
Bohemians in the vicinity. The barn door was 
open. The fire did not spread very rapidly. Two 
barns were on fire when the engines came. There 
might have been more, but he was positive two were 
burning. The O'Leary barn was 16x20 feet and 
14 feet high. There was a vacant shed, fronting on 
the alley, opposite O'Leary's barn, in which the boys 
of the neighborhood were in the habit of congre- 
gating. In front of it, facing Taylor street, was a 
vacant house, which, he understood, was often occu- 
pied by vagrants and loafers as a lodging place. The 
alley between the shed and barn was about twelve 
feet wide. 

The above testimony is from those who lived im- 
mediately adjacent to the locality where the fire 
commenced, and although it does not give any very 
definite idea concerning the origin of the fire, it is 
quite evident that a drunken orgy of some descrip- 
tion was going on, which undoubtedly had much to 
do with the more immediate cause of the fire. Be- 
low we append the testimony of one or two firemen, 
which will give the^eader some idea of the fire as 
firemen regarded it, and of some of the difficulties 
under which they labored^ 

Michael W. Conway, the pipeman of the steamer 
" Chicago," testified that he worked on the Saturday 
night fire until half-past 4 o'clock on Sunday after- 
noon, and his eyes being full of cinders and his 



430 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

physical condition such as to render him unfit for 
duty, he went home and retired to rest. About 11 
o'clock his wife awoke him, and said she was afraid 
they would be burned out. He went over to the 
engine house, and saw the steamer in front of the 
building. The fire was then near the corner of 
Harrison and Jefferson streets. The Chicago's 
house is on Jefferson street, near Van Buren. Some 
one told him the fire was on the south side, but he 
did not believe it, as he thought it was the reflection 
from the west side fire. The engine was short of 
hose, so he took the cart and went down Desplaines 
street to see if he could find any that had been left 
behind by the engines. He found two or three 
lengths, and went back to the house. The engine 
was not working. The company had had a full reel 
— 600 feet — of hose on Sunday afternoon, but it had 
been lost. The Titsworth was at that time drawing 
water from a plug on Jefferson, south of Van Buren 
street. He did not know where the Chicago had 
been. He asked the foreman what he intended to 
do with the engine, and he replied that he was 
" played out," and he (Conway) could take charge 
of her. He told the foreman it was "all right," and 
that he would go on the south side. There was no 
one present to give him directions. He started and 
attempted to cross Madison street bridge, but could 
not. He crossed Randolph street bridge and went 
east. He saw one engine at Wells and Madison 
streets, another at La Salle and Madison streets, and 
another at Clark and Madison streets, and when he 



APPENDIX 433 

reached the corner of Clark and Washington streets 
he concluded that a line was being formed on Madi- 
son street to cut off the fire, and, as there was no 
engine on Franklin street, he thought he would get 
a plug there. While passing the court house, he 
noticed a fire on the roof, and asked the engineer if 
he thought water could be thrown up there. The 
reply was "Yes," and he was about to attach the 
suction to a plu<*, when he noticed several men 
come out of the cupola with buckets and brooms. 
As the fire was very small, he thought they could 
manage it, and he continued on his way to Franklin 
street. He took a hydrant on Franklin street, near 
Washington, and led south into an alley near Bar- 
ber's building. lie had then about five hundred 
feet of hose, having procured a lead from the fire- 
escape hose, and worked two streams. He remained 
at work there until Marshal Williams ordered him 
to pick up and go to Schuttler's building. He led 
up Randolph street, and threw water on the build- 
ings on the south side of the street. The flames 
came from the basements of the stores, while there 
was no sign of fire in any other part of the build- 
ings. Once while going from the engine to the 
pipemen he saw a woman with a "duster" on her 
head looking out of a fourth story window. He 
threw up a stone or piece of wood to attract her 
attention, and told her if she did not leave the build- 
ing at once she would be burned up. She had 
hardly got into the street before the flames burst 

out of the basement windows. The fire came from 

25 



434 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

the east down Randolph street. The light of the 
lire in the cellars was a strange one. It looked as 
if whiskey or alcohol was burning. He heard a 
great many loud reports during the night, but 
thought they were caused by falling walls. He did 
not know of any buildings being blown up that 
night. The only marshal he saw until Tuesday 
afternoon was Williams. He wont from Schuttler's 
to the corner of Randolph and Market streets, and 
remained there until the rear walls of the Wash- 
ington house fell in, and the shanties on the north- 
east and southeast corners were burned down. He 
saw the Metropolitan Hall burned, and did not 
think it remained standing a minute after the fire 
took hold of it. The dome in the Briggs House 
caught fire. While the engine was working at 
Franklin and Randolph streets, he took a walk 
down to South Water street, and saw the Wil- 
liams at work on the .corner oi Fifth avenue and 
that street. The air was oppressively warm and full 
of sparks, and there was a perfect gale. His eyes 
were in a wretched condition. While working on 
Barber's building the window frames of the upper 
floor caught fire, and, after be had kicked open the 
door, two policemen went up and subdued the 
flames. He was familiar with many of the build- 
ings that were burned. Their roofs were generally 
of felt, saturated with tar and covered with pebbles. 
The cornices were generally of wood. Now and 
then there was a tin roof. Tin made the best roof 
if people did not walk on it. After he left the foot 



APPENDIX. 435 

of Randolph street he went across the bridge and to 
the foot of Washington street. There he saw the 
Richard's engine throwing water on the iron 
works. They hadn't enough hose, so he let them 
have two or three lengths, by order of the chief 
marshal. The buildings were not on fire, but were 
being cooled off. He afterwards went to the foot 
of Franklin street, on the north side. This was 
about daylight on Monday morning. He went first 
to Ohio and Wells streets, but as he could obtain no 
water he went to the river. The Coventry was 
there when he arrived, and the Winnebago came 
up soon after. He threw water on the east elevator, 
and the pipemen of the other engines paid attention 
to the Galena depot, by order of Marshal Williams. 
The fire at that time was east of Wells street, and 
as far north as he could see. He was not at work 
on the south side over four or five hours, and did 
not fail to obtain plenty of water while there. The 
fire went diagonally from the river east, and then 
eat its way w r est. He kept a look-out to the west, 
so as to prevent being cut off. In case of an emer- 
gency he intended to run the engine into La Salle 
street tunnel. He did not see a member of the Fire 
Department drunk, but saw several citizens with 
firemen's hats on who were. The citizens £ot the 
hats from the hose carts. In a hot fire, such as 
that, a slouch hat was preferable to a fire hat, as the 
eyes and lace could be shielded from the heat. A 
man stole his fire hat, and a policeman shoved the 
thief into the river, and the hat sunk. [Marshal 



436 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION CHICAGO: 

Williams stated that he took fire hats from two citi- 
zens who were drunk.] While Conway was at the 
Chicago's house, he saw no liquor. A citizen 
who was there was intoxicated, but he did not re- 
main Ions: at the house. No extra hats were carried 
on the hose carts. He did not know of any money 
being paid to firemen for special services. 

Christopher Schimtnels, foreman of the steamer 
Chicago, said the first he knew of the fire was the 
striking of the gong. He thought it was about 
9.30. Box No. 34'2 was struck. This box is about 
a mile southwest of where the fire was. He went 
directly to the blaze, and took a hydrant on the 
corner of Forquar and Jefferson streets, and led 
the hose south. His was the only stream there. 
After working from three to five minutes, the 
engine was w shut down," and upon making inquiry 
as to why it was done, the engineer told him that 
a spring in the pump had broken. He told the 
engineer to start up again, and run the risk of 
breaking the pump to pieces. He did not see the 
marshal or the assistants, and he asked the foreman 
of the Illinois, which had come up, which side of 
the fire he would take. He replied " north," so 
Schimmels remained on the south line. He worked 
there until Assistant Marshal Benner ordered him 
to move and cut off the fire in the rear of some 
buildings. The next thing he knew, a row of 
buildings on Jefferson street, a little south of Tay- 
lor, were on fire. After working on them ten 
minutes, orders came to move and put on two 



APPENDIX. 437 

streams. An order subsequently came to go further 
north, and try to cut off the fire. It was impossi- 
ble to go up Jefferson street, so he went over to 
Halsted and up to Harrison, and took a plug on 
the corner of that street and Jefferson. He led the 
hose south, but was driven from his position by the 
heat, and nearly lost his hose in retreating. He 
attached another lead of hose to the engine, and 
l;ept the ground near her cool. He then started 
for a plug on Jefferson street, between Harrison and 
Van Bureti , but the Tits worth was there, and he 
went around to Jackson and Jefferson streets. After 
being there three or five minutes, he saw that the 
fire was not coming that way, so he sent his men 
over to the south side. He went to his engine 
bouse, as he was completely played out, having had 
no sleep for thirty hours. He had worked eighteen 
hours on the Saturday night fire, and four of his 
men were nearly blind. When the alarm came in, 
these men, who had been at home, ran around to 
the engine house, but as they were useless on 
account of the condition of their eyes, he took 
three volunteers and started for the fire. None 
of his men were intoxicated. They all worked 
faithfully. 

He did not know what time the fire crossed to 
the south side, but thought it was about k 2 o'clock 
on Monday morning. His engine was in good order 
at the Saturday night fire, but they had to knock 
her suction from a plug to prevent her being burned 
up, and the "goose neck" being out of order, she 4 



438 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO I 

could not draw water very well on Sunday. He 
was short of hose. Two lengths were lost on Har- 
rison street, and there was none in reserve. There 
were eigteen lengths in the engine house on Satur- 
day night, but some companies had taken it all out. 
His engine was also on the north side. The engi- 
neer, who had charge, came back to the house about 
7 o'clock on Monday morning, and said lie came 
near losing her three or four times. He met the 
Chief Marshal about 11 o'clock on Monday morn- 
ing, and told him he had no hose. He was told 
tli at there was some expected at the Milwaukee 
depot, and went there to get it, but none had come. 
When he returned to the engine house, a small boy 
came in and said there was a Springfield steamer at 
the foot of Taylor street, and the men with it wanted 
to know w T here to go, as they could not see any fire. 
He brought them up to the house, and asked them 
for half of their hose — they had 1,000 feet — and 
the foreman said he would let him have it, if he 
would bring his engine out and work with him. He 
said "all right," and hitched the truck horses to the 
Springfield engine, and with his own steamer, started 
for the north side, crossing Division street bridge. 
The two engines worked on the gas works from 6 
o'clock that evening until 7 o'clock on Tuesday 
morning, when the Springfield steamer gave out. 
The fire was then so as it would not spread any 
more, and they returned to the house, finding two 
strange companies in possession when they arrived. 
The steamer was fixed up, and he slept until noon, 



APPENDIX. 439 

when orders came to go to the foot of Taylor street 
and throw water on some coal. He was not offered 
any money to play on any building, and did not 
think anything more conld have been done to stop 
the fire. If there had been plenty of hose on at 
first it would have made a difference. Coal was 
scarce, and the citizens tore up the sidewalks to 
furnish his engine with fuel. All the hose he had 
had for three months previous to the fire was very 
poor. 

Mayor Mason. 

At the meeting of the Common Council of Chi- 
cago, held on the 4th of December, for the purpose 
of inaugurating the Mayor elect, the retiring Mayor, 
It. B. Mason, in his address, said : 

The appalling calamity which has befallen our 
city made it necessary for the Mayor to assume re- 
sponsibilities entirely unexpected and unprece- 
dented. Plis sole object and aim was to secure 
means that would be the most effectual, and the 
soonest available, to meet the emergency, and it is 
believed this was done without lowering the dignity 
of his office or abrogating any of its powers. Our 
great misfortune has called forth universal sympathy 
and aid from almost every city and town in our own 
land, and to a large extent in foreign lands. And, 
to show our wants, it is simply necessary to state 
that some 15,000 families are being aided, more or 
less, at the present time. But all are sheltered, and 
their most pressing wants are being supplied. 



440 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

All of the funds which have been sent here for 
the relief of our suffering citizens have been turned 
over to the Chicago Aid and Relief Society, who are 
operating under a charter from our State, and have 
had ten years' experience in aiding the poor and 
destitute of our city. This society is composed of 
some of our best and most reliable citizens, and it is 
confidently believed that the expenditure of this 
world-wide bounty will be more judiciously done, 
and accomplish more good, than under any other 
organization, and that all will be satisfactorily ac- 
counted for. Our citizens will not soon forget the 
great exertions made by the Aldermen and other 
city officers, and that is now being made by the 
Chicago Aid and Eelief Society, to give shelter and 
food to the tens of thousands of sufferers by the 
great fire, and I tender to each and all of you my 
thanks for the counsel and assistance rendered to 
the Mayor at that trying time. 

Message of May or Me dill. 

At the municipal election held since the fire, 
Joseph Medill. the editor and one of the leading 
proprietors of the Chicago Tribune, was elected to the 
office of Mayor. His inaugural message delivered 
on the 4th of December, contains the following 
statement and su£2:estions : 

DO 

I have been called to the head of the City Gov- 
ernment under extraordinary circumstances. A few 
weeks ago our fair city, reposmg in fancied security, 



APPENDIX. 441 

received a fearfully tragic visitation from fire, which 
in a few brief but awful hours reduced a large por- 
tion thereof to ashes, cinder and smoke, consuming 
one grand division, leaving but a fragment of 
another, and inflicting an ugly wound on the third. 
In a single night and a day 125,000 of our people 
were expelled from their homes and compelled to 
flee for their lives into the streets, commons, or lake, 
to avoid perishing in the flames. Many lost their 
lives from heat, suffocation, or falling walls — how 
many may never be known ; and the multitudes 
who escaped were fain to seek shelter and food at 
the hand of charity. The greater part of our citi- 
zens, not burned out of their homes, lost their stores 
shops, offices, stocks of goods, implements, books, 
accounts, papers, vouchers, business, or situations, 
and it is difficult to find any citizen who has not; 
suffered directly by that fearful conflagration. Of 
the total property in Chicago created by labor and 
capital, existing on the 8th of October, more than 
half perished on the 9th. The money value of the 
property thus suddenly annihilated, it is impossible 
accurately to ascertain, but it can hardly fall short 
of $150,000,000, a comparatively small part of 
which wid be reimbursed by the insurance com- 
panies. Such a tremendous loss cannot befall the 
people at large without seriously affecting their 
municipal affairs. The city ,as a corporation has 
lost in property and income precisely in the same 
proportion as have individuals in the aggregate. 
The municipal government has no income except 



442 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO! 

what it derives from the citizens of Chicago, in the 
form of taxes, licenses, and rents, or obtains on their 
credit ; and to the extent that their property and 
business are diminished by the terrible misfortune 
that has smitten them, so is the revenue of the city 
diminished; and, as our citizens are retrenching 
expenses to meet the exigencies and keep within 
their means, so must the municipal government do 
likewise. 

Financial Condition of the City. 

Heavy as the blow has been that has struck us, 
I am not discouraged. Our municipal losses, like 
those of the citizens, will soon be repaired, and by 
judicious management of our city affairs, the 
people will the sooner recover from their losses, 
and thus be able, in a short time, to bear the 
burdens of taxation without oppression. I shall 
proceed to state, in brief form, the present fiscal 
condition of the city, as I gather it from official 
sources : 

Bonded debt, December 1st, 1871, . . . $14,103,000 
From this may be deducted bonds held 

in the sinking fund, 55T,000 

Outstanding bonds, $13,546,000 

This debt is composed of the following items: 

Funded debt — old issues, $342,000 

Funded debt— new issues, 2,192,500 

School bonds ' . . . 1,119,500 



APPENDIX. 443 

School construction bonds, $53,000 

Sewerage bonds, 2,680,000 

River improvement bonds, 2,896,000 

Water bonds, 4,820,000 

In addition to the bonded debt, it is officially re- 
ported to me that there is a floating debt consisting 
of: 

Certificates of indebtedness, $138,707 

Unsettled claims for deepening the canal 
in excess of the $3,000,000 authorized 

by law, 253,000 

Current expenses for November, about, . 250,000 

Tunnel balance, and other items, . . . 45,000 

Total, about . . $686,707 

The Comptroller estimates the general expenses 
for the remainder of the fiscal year at $1,141,000. 

There stands to the credit of various special 
funds the following unexpended balances: 

Water fund, from sale of bonds, . . . $897,262 

School building, from sale of bonds, . . 148,152 

Special assessment, collected, .... 435,467 

Bridewell fund, 45,451 

Reformed School fund, 30,000 

Total, $1,556,338 

From these funds the City Government 
has temporarily drawn for payment of 
current expenses, to be replaced when 
needed, 1,144,186 



Balance on hand December 1st, 1871, $412,152 



444 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

The Common Council, at a late meeting, appro- 
priated $140,000 of the water fund for repairs of 
the water works and extensions of mains, which, 
when expended will reduce the water fund to 
$757,262. 

By the former mode of doing business with the 
banks, nothing was paid by them to the city on its 
deposits, while high rates of interest were paid by 
the city for temporary accommodations — the money 
loaned actually being the city's own funds. The 
interest thus absurdly paid, amounted to a very 
large item in the annual expenditure of the city. 



Municipal Losses by the Fire. 

As near as I can ascertain, the loss of city prop- 
erty by the fire, as estimated by the different 
boards, is as follows : 

In Care of Board of Public Works. 

City Hall, including furniture, .... $47 0,000 

Bridges burned 171,000 

Damage to street pavements, 270,000 

Damage to sidewalks and crossings, pay- 
able out of general fund, 70,000 

Damage to water works, 35,000 

Damages to lamp posts, ........ 15,000 

Damage to fire hydrants, reservoirs, sewers, 

water service, etc., 60,000 

Total, $1,085,000 



APPENDIX 445 

To this must be added 121| miles of sidewalks 
destroyed (the replacement of which should be by 
special assessment) valued at $941,380. 



The Fire Department Loss. 

Buildings worth, $60,000 

Furniture, 7,500 

Damage to engines, 8,200 

Damage to hose, 10,000 

Damage to fire-alarm telegraph, .... 45,000 

Total, $130,700 

Police Department Loss. 

Buildings worth, $53,600 

Furniture, fixtures, etc., 32,500 



Total, $86,100 

Board of Education Lost. 

Buildings, furniture, etc., worth, .... $251,000 
Board of Health lost property worth, . . 15,000 

Total losses $1,567,800 

Add sidewalks, 941,380 

Grand total, $2,509,180 

All these burnt structures, machines, bridges, 
sidewalks, fixtures, and furniture, must be rebuilt 
and replaced at the earliest practical moment, as 
they are indispensable to the city and citizens. 



44:6 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO*. 



Other Municipal Losses by the Fire. 

But the destruction of this property is not the 
only loss suffered by the corporation. The burning 
of records, vouchers, books, papers, tax warrants, 
assessment-rolls, etc., will necessarily occasion much 
loss, confusion and embarrassment to the city gov- 
ernment. But it is believed that a large part of 
the apparent loss of official knowledge and data 
can be supplied from other scources. Still, the 
pecuniary loss to the city will be considerable in 
the destruction of the evidence of delinquent taxes 
and special assessments. 



The Records. 

This list of destroyed records and papers may con- 
vey an exaggerated idea of the actual damage done. 
The system of keeping the city accounts was such 
that but little loss will be sustained by the city by 
reason of the destruction of the Comptroller's re- 
cords. To illustrate : The appropriation for the 
Board of Public Works is nearly one-third of the 
total annual appropriation, and, including special 
assessments, is more than half of all the money ex- 
pended on city account. The board make out a 
voucher for an expenditure and send it to the Comp- 
troller's office, keeping a duplicate in their own 
office. The board also keep books of account, show- 
ing the expenditures of appropriations for and vou- 



APPENDIX. 447 

chers issued by the board. The Board of Public 
Works saved their books, records, vouchers, etc., 
and to this extent the records of the Comptroller's 
office can be replaced. So that it will be impossible 
for claimants to defraud the city by false claims. 

The appropriations for the Police and Fire De- 
partments, amounting to about $900,000, are largely 
made up of the pay rolls of policemen and firemen, 
and they were paid on Saturday preceding the fire, 
except a few who were on special duty. 

The usual course of business in the Comptroller's 
office, combined with the personal recollections of 
the Comptroller and his clerks, will enable that office 
to prevent double payments, or fraudulent pay- 
ments, and the danger of such will be over with 
when the payments for the month of November are 
completed. 

It is in the destruction of the records, rolls and 
warrants of the City Collector's office that I appre- 
hend the city will suffer the greatest loss. The 
City Collector, when an assessment is made, or a tax 
levied, receives a warrant for its collection, gives the 
notices required by law, and reports once in each 
year, generally in March, to the court, the delin- 
quents upon all real property and special assessment 
accounts which come into his hands, the latter prior 
to flhc 31st of October, and of the real property war- 
rants prior to the preceding second Sunday of De- 
cember. 



448 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO 



Combustible Character of the City. 

No more important questions can engage your at- 
tention than those of the future fire limits, and a re- 
liable supply of water for the extinguishment of 
fires. The first is in the nature of prevention, and 
the second of cure ; and I shall briefly discuss them 
in the order of their importance. On the 9th of 
October more than 20,000 habitations and business 
places were destroyed by fire in a single day. So 
enormous a loss of property in so incredible short 
space of time, finds no parallel in the history of con- 
flagrations. It is not difficult to explain the cause 
of this sudden and tremendous destruction of prop- 
erty. There was no other city upon the face of 
the earth where all the conditions for such a disaster 
could be found in equal perfection. To begin with, 
the city of Chicago is situateu on the lake border of 
a boundless prairie, swept continually by high winds. 
It contained 60,000 pine-built structures, and a few 
thousand of brick or stone. The prevailing winds 
of the autumn are invariably from the west and 
southwest. The solidly built parts of the city, and 
containing the most values, lay to the eastward of 
the combustible portions and were completely 
flanked and commanded by them. Each year the 
wooden parts of the city have filled up thicker and 
thicker with the most inflammable of all building 
materials, viz. : pine. For miles square there was 
little but pine structures, pine sidewalks, pine plan- 






APPENDIX. 451 

ing mills, manufactures of pine, and pine lumber 
yards. 

A hot, parching, southwestern gale of many clays 
duration had absorbed every particle of moisture 
from the vast aggregation of pine, of which the city 
was mainly constructed, and reduced it to the con- 
dition of tinder. A fire broke out in the night in 
the heart of this combustible material, the furious 
wind spread it quickly and swept it onward resist- 
lessly. When the storm of fire reached the South 
Branch it had acquired such strength and volume as 
to leap over it as though it were a tiny rivulet. It fed 
on the dry pine tenements on its line of march, and 
spreading right and left, swept everything before it 
with the besom of destruction, until it died out for 
lack of more pine to devour. 

What lesson should this cruel visitation teach us ? 
Shall we regard it as one of fortuitous occurrence, 
which only happens at long intervals and is beyond 
human foresight or control 1 ? Such a conclusion 
constitutes our great future danger. A blind, 
unreasoning infatuation in favor of pine for outside 
walls, and pine covered with paper and tar for roofs, 
has possession of many of our people, It is thought 
to be cheaper than any other building material, 
when, in point of fact, it is the dearest stuff, all 
things considered, that can be used. It is short- 
lived ; rots out in a few years; rapidly becomes 
shabby in appearance, and of all building substance s 
is the most incendiary. There is no economy what- 
ever in erecting tenements of pine. The difference 

26 



452 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

in first cost between it and brick is not to exceed 15 
or 2 ;) per cent., and this saving at the outset is soon 
lost in higher rates of insurance ; larger consumption 
of fuel ; more doctors' bills ; incessant repairs, and 
greater discomfort. The value of real property is 
reduced, and its advance retarded by the presence of 
unsightly, decaying, and combustible wooden struc- 
tures, and the owners are unable to procure loans on 
such property on terms satisfactory, either as to time, 
amount, or rates of interest. 

If we rebuild the city with this dangerous mate- 
rial, we have a moral certainty, at no distant day, of 
a recurrence of the late catastrophe. The chances 
of future destruction increase exactly in proportion 
to the multiplication of combustible structures on a 
given space. The sirocco blast from the southwest 
visits us every year. We have strong winds at 
nearly all times from the west. All the conditions 
for great fires are, therefore, constantly present in 
the dry season. With our present mode of supply- 
ing water, there is never an adequate quantity at 
the point of need to combat and properly overcome 
a great fire. But no supply is sufficient to quench 
a fire with twenty minutes' start, among thousands 
of tinder-box structures, and propelled by an autumn 
gale in time of drought. 

What the Future Fire-Kr)%its should he. 

Can there be any doubt as to our duty in view of 
these conditions and considerations 1 it seems to me 



APPENDIX. 453 

it is obvious and imperative. Those who are 
intrusted with the management of public affairs 
should take such measures as shall render the recur- 
rence of a like calamity morally impossible. The 
outside walls and roof of every building, to be here- 
after erected within the limits of Chicago, should be 
composed of materials as incombustible as brick, 
stone, iron, concrete or slate. Self-preservation is 
the first law of nature. So the preservation of the 
city is the highest duly of its rulers. Except for 
the most temporary uses, I am unalterably opposed, 
from this time forward, to the erection of a single 
wooden building within the limits of Chicago. 

The fire limits, in my opinion, should be made 
co-extensive with the boundaries of the city, and 
when the latter are extended, so should be the for- 
mer. There is no line that can be drawn with safety 
within those limits. 

Any inner fire line would occasion endless dis- 
content, and will forever be assailed and broken. 
Draw it an> where inside the city limits, and it will 
be continually forced inward, and shrink back 
toward its old and useless boundaries. No satisfac- 
tory or logical reason can ever be given to interested 
persons why those next to and within the line 
should be prohibited from erecting incendiary struc- 
tures, while their neighbors on the opposite side of 
the street or alley are permitted to indulge in that 
dangerous luxury. Either let us forbid the construc- 
tion of those buildings which tend to jeopardize the 
city, or allow all citizens an equal privilege toburn 



454 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

down their neighbors. This is a land of equal 
rights and privileges, and the rule in regard to 
incendiary structures should also be equal and uni- 
form. I can see no other way of securing the safety of 
the city, and satisfying the citizens, than by treating 
all alike, and extending the fire limits to the city 
boundaries. Special privileges are odious in a re- 
publican country. 

In view of all the circumstances, I recommend that 
your honorable body proceed to frame and perfect a 
tire ordinance that will give security and perma- 
nence to the future city. The existing wooden 
structures will gradually disappear by the ravages 
of fire and decay, and the desire to replace them 
with permanent edifices. In a few years we can 
have a city solid and safe, durable and beautiful. 
The enactment of a fire limits ordinance, compre- 
hending the en? ire city, will add tens of millions to 
its credit abroad, and greatly appreciate the value of 
its realty at home. It is the widest financial mea- 
sure that can be enacted. 



An Independent Supply of Water for Fires. 

The future safety of the city demands a better 
and more reliable supply of water for the extin- 
guishment of fires than is afforded by the existing 
system. This fact was painfully demonstrated in 
the late calamity. When the pumping works suc- 
cumbed, not a gallon of water could be procured by 
the Fire Department or the citizens with which to 



APPENDIX. 455 

fight the fire, and hundreds, perhaps thousands, of 
houses perished in consequence thereof. The city 
should not be left wholly dependent on those ma- 
chines, because they are subject to many contingen- 
cies in addition to that which disabled them. Boil- 
ers may explode and ruin the engines, or cut off the 
supply of steam ; some of the machinery may give 
way while the other engines are idle, awaiting re- 
pairs ; valves may fail; a main may burst from over- 
pressure, or other cause ; fire may again invade the 
works, or something else may happen at the critical 
moment, which may again leave the Fire Depart- 
ment helpless and the city a prey to the unpitying 
element. 

The topography of the city forbids an elevated 
reservoir of capacity and pressure sufficient for the 
extinguishment of serious fires, such as they have in 
Montreal, New York, Pittsburgh, and other cities. 
But a simple, cheap, and reliable substitute can be 
found in the construction of a system of subterranean 
reservoirs, one at every street crossing in the 
densely built portions of the city, and at greater 
distances apart in the more sparsely built parts. 
These reservoirs may be connected by ear; hen pipes 
such as are us d for sewerage purposes, of adequate 
diameter, and supplied with water by artesian wells 
placed at proper distances apart. The water from 
all the wells in each division of the city would thus 
be connected and made to flow into any reservoir 
from which the fire engines might be drawing water. 
A dozen artesian wells in cither division of the city 



456 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO I 

would supply water faster than the whole depart- 
ment in action could consume it. The stock of 
water in the reservoirs themselves would be invalu- 
able in great emergencies. 

Only one engine can draw water from a fire hy- 
drant, and the others usually have to go long dis- 
tances to find hydrants, and their delivery power is 
greatly diminished by distance and friction of water 
in the hose, while the hose itself is burst and de- 
stroyed in great quantities at every severe combat 
with fire. But from each of the proposed reservoirs 
several engines could draw water, and thus, at short 
range, concentrate an irresistible discharge upon the 
fire and quickly master it. 

Artesian water is so warm that it would never 
freeze in the pipes, however shallow they were laid, 
nor in the reservoirs, because the perpetual influx of 
the warm water would always keep the temperature 
above the freezing point. The outflow of this water 
to the North Division and in the northern part of 
the West Division could be conducted into the 
North Branch of the Chicago river, and materially 
aid in its purification, without expense to the city. 
In other portions of the town, surplus water could 
be run into the street sewers, thereby saving the ex- 
pense of "flushing" them, as now practiced. In 
the season of street sprinkling, the watering wagons 
could obtain water from the artesian fountains, 
thereby leaving a larger supply for domestic pur- 
poses. There are various other uses to which the 



APPENDIX. 457 

waste water might advantageously be put, not ne- 
cessary here to enumerate. 

The cost of the proposed supply of auxiliary water 
would be insignificant when compared with its value 
in preserving property and adding to the safety of 
the city. The animal saving of insurance^ resulting 
from this independent water supply, would probably 
exceed the hist cost of procuring it. Bounteous 
Nature has placed under our feet, within easy reach, 
this fountain of water, awaiting our bidding to pour 
forth. Have we the enterprise and sagacity to util- 
ize it? But I refer the further consideration of 
this important subject to the wisdom of your honor- 
able body. Perhaps some better plan to accomplish 
the end in view — the safety of the city from destruc- 
tion by fire — will be suggested by yourselves and 
carried into effect. But we must be admonished by 
the. bitter and terrible experience of the past never 
again to depend exclusively on our pumping works 
for a sure and adequate supply of water for the re- 
duction of a great conflagration. 

Conclusion. 

In concluding I point with pride and admiration 
to the gigantic efforts our whole people are putting 
forth to rise from the ruins and rebuild Chicago. 
The money value of their losses can hardly be calcu- 
lated. But who can compute the aggregate of 
anguish, distress and suffering they have endured 
and must yet endure 1 These wounds are still sore 



458 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION — CHICAGO: 

and agonizing, though they have been greatly alle- 
viated by the prompt, generous, and world wide 
charities that have been poured out for their succor 
and relief; and I claim in their behalf that they are 
showing themselves worthy the benefactions re- 
ceived. They have faced their calamity with 
noble fortitude and unflinching courage. Repining 
or lamentation is unheard in our midst, but hope 
and cheerfulness are everywhere exhibited and 
expressed. All are inspired with an ambition to 
prove to the world that they are worthy of its 
sympathy, confidence and assistance and to show 
how bravely they can encounter disaster, how 
quickly repair losses and restore Chicago to her 
high rank among the great cities of the earth. 

Happily there is that left which fire cannot con- 
sume ; — habits of industry and self-reliance, personal 
integrity, business aptitude, mechanical skill, and 
unconquerable will. These created what the flames 
devoured, and these can speedily re-create more 
than was swept away. Under free institutions, 
good government, and the blessings of Providence, 
all losses will soon be repaired, all misery caused by 
the fire assuaged, and a prosperity greater than ever 
dreamed of will be achieved in a period so brief, 
that the rise will astonish mankind even more than 
the fall, of Chicago. 



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